Left 4 Dead: Homegrown
by Guardian Shotgun
Summary: One want's to go home. One just likes to kill. Another feels the need to protect. The last has seen too much killing. Against them is a few billion zombies, will they survive?
1. The shitty calm before the shit Storm

Hello, my name is Guardian Shotgun. This will be my first fan fic, so please be kind. This chapter will be sort of an introduction slash explanation before the story truly begins. The reason I chose Left 4 Dead would be that it doesn't give a plot, so it's a gigantic, zombie covered canvas open to any kind of innovation and background. So this will explain what I think happened in the two (or so) weeks after that first infection. I've chosen the title Homegrown because all of the locations used in the story are real places not thirty miles from where I live. If I can procure the equipment I may post pics of locations I use as to help with my visual ideas.

Time to start the show.

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Prologue.

"_Evil unchecked grows, evil tolerated destroys."_

In Texas there was a small city called Corsicana. Roughly only thirty one thousand people lived in the area. In fact it was only considered a city for its college. The small community college was called Navarro, and it was horrible condition, just like the rest of the town.

At this college was a rather large administrative building, and of all the identical rooms, one was different, with two doors, both made of steel and painted red. The doors seemed quickly constructed yet were deceivingly sturdy. Much like the many identical doors now littering the country, marking the few safe areas left.

The room was fitted with a large amount of survival equipment and ammunition for various firearms. The walls were covered in writing from its past inhabitants. Some messages where illegible, others written in pencil, marker, highlighter, and even human blood. Some of the texts depicted advice for survival. A few were messages to other individuals. Obituaries, suicide notes, and even kill counts littered the wall. One was written in bright red permanent marker, and the writer seemed to have bad handwriting, yet it was legible.

It was dated July 5, 2010.

_I write this for… hopefully… the survivors of the next generation._

_My name is Johnathan Edward Baker-Bennett, age 18. I, along with two other survivors plan to travel, roughly, thirty miles to a nearby small town and attempt to find the nearest evacuation sight. All of those in our group are immune to the… sickness, along with the very few others with a chance to survive._

_It was not supposed to end this way… monsters were not supposed to be real. _

_Monsters were meant for the movies and children's nightmares. They were meant to be good scare to lighten up this otherwise dull world. The creatures of the night were something imaginary, never to truly see the light of day…_

_Monsters were supposed to be fictional._

_A corpse was supposed to stay a corpse…_

_The dead were not supposed hunt the living…_

_And they definitely were not supposed to maul and kill the living for no reason…_

_Too bad they do not seem to know that…_

_No one knew exactly how it started, but everyone knows exactly when it got out of hand. _

_June nineteenth, 2010. Some call this Z day, Ground Zero, Day 1, or; Beginning of the End. But it's more commonly known as First Infection. _

_It was the day we realized we lost control._

The infection started in the south, New Orleans, Louisiana had been quarantined for a month now. A strange virus had spread like wildfire through the entire city, and people were dropping like flies. Hospitals were overflowing with cases and staff members were quickly catching the epidemic. While fear and panic was spreading faster than the sickness, the authorities quarantined New Orleans for fear of a massive, country-wide outbreak. The Civil Emergency and Defense Agency, or CEDA was in charge of researching and containing the virus. When family members and friends of the citizens trapped in the city caused uproar at the danger zone, CEDA feared losing control. Seeking additional help, the National Guard arrived to help hold a perimeter five miles from the city. Soon every news channel in the free world had a cover story on the _New Orleans Epidemic._

Twenty three days after day one of the quarantine the first scream was heard. Soul wrenching cries of pain and agony pierced the air all the way to the edge of the quarantine zone. For five days and nights the screams for mercy rand through the air, soon accompanied by gun fire. Not ling after that the entire city of New Orleans seemed to have become a war zone. Aforementioned family, friends, and troops slept and waited in fear as the cries continued.

On the thirty first day of the quarantine, it stopped. Not just the screaming, but the shooting, explosions, even the sounds of nature itself stopped. A quiet so nerve wracking that not a soul spoke for a complete hour. After a short meeting between CDA and the commanding officer of the deployed troops an agreement was reached. They announced to the civilians that half of the present National Guards and a few CEDA members would enter the city to check for survivors.

They didn't come back.

Gunfire and screams could be heard for hours, and slowly it died out. Confused, and obviously freaked out, all remaining CEDA and National Guards boarded the remaining vehicles and stormed New Orleans. A few news crews managed to plead and bargain their way into the group. So now the entire nation watched as the remaining troops and CEDA agents moved into the city.

What was witnessed that day is still remembered. It was mankind's first glimpse into our own hellish future.

Roughly one hundred armed personnel entered into New Orleans. They found the streets littered with several hundred civilians, all staggering around in what seemed to be a drunken stupor. They shuffled, fell, crawled, and groaned loudly, oblivious to the armed military members approaching them. At about two hundred yards the large group stopped to observe the inebriated crowd and devise their plan of action.

One lone camera man pulled out his equipment, with which he used to get a closer look at the pedestrians. One stood out among the crowd; he was clothed in the same uniform as the uniform as the troops marching with them now. He motioned the reporter following him, pointing out the stumbling ex-military man paying no attention to them.

Slowly it turned to the side, giving the camera man a good look at his face. Every viewer across the world saw as he focused in on the figure among the crowd. The camera man promptly blew his chunks all over the reporter at the sight. The trooper's face, or lack there for of, had no skin, and was missing an eye along with many of his teeth. The worker re-focused his camera to the man in the crowd to find him staring back. The sound alerted the mutilated man, and he stared for a few seconds at the group of intruders not a few hundred yards away…

And screamed.

It wasn't a scream of pain, sorrow, or joy. It was a scream of inhuman rage. It was pure bloodlust, and a hunter spotting its quarry. Alerted by the cry, the other wandering individuals snapped to attention, also noticing the other group. All together they charged the smaller crowd, gaining ground horribly fast, cutting half the distance in a few seconds. At this point the other group could see the condition of the others.

Many were covered in blood, though few had enough wounds on their own bodies to produce such quantities. Others were missing fingers or other body parts. A few were even missing limbs; those missing legs were crawling strangely toward them. Altogether the crowd sent the message of what they were very easily: zombies.

Every rational thought of reasoning with the charging fled the minds of every individual holding a firearm. A wave of fire and gunmetal washed over the horde, and the screams of the living and the dead were drowned out in the deafening assault. As the sea of corpses neared, the smaller crowd of troops began to lose their nerve. Many began to retreat and soon the entire crowd was running for their lives. The unlucky few in the back of the group were quickly overwhelmed; the zombies caught them with unimaginable strength and speed. The undead legion quickly began to maul and dismember their bodies.

When the few remaining living individuals finally reached the quarantine line, it seemed as if half of New Orleans was following them. The civilians waiting for them were shocked to hear gun fire, but soon realized why. Screams once again filled the air as panic spread through the crowd. Before the survivors of the rescue mission even breeched the barricade, the horde had shifted its attention to the screaming crowd before it. The bystanders were quickly consumed in the flood of undead, many died within the next thirty seconds, while others slowly bled out. A dozen or so lucky individuals made it out with only a bite or scratch before making it to their cars and escaping.

Among them was a lone cameraman who had been with the second group to enter New Orleans.

Three days after the footage of New Orleans was aired worldwide, more cases of violence and sickness were showing up all over America. Horrific scenes of groups of undead tearing civilians apart and eating them alive were accelerating quickly. Within twenty days, at least half of the United States of America population was infected by the zombie disease. Individuals that had been attacked by the infected quickly succumb to the sickness, adding more to the ever growing legion of undead.

The military and CEDA provided all the assistance they could, but it was already too late. Plans of evacuating survivors from infected cities to safe zones were disastrous. Many times the surviving individuals being rescued were already infected waiting to turn into zombies themselves. Screening processes to find who was infected usually led to riots or a hoard of infected overwhelming the survivors trying to leave.

But with every successful evacuation, it only led to more problems. The safe cities remaining were just as dangerous as the hostile world outside, with riots and looting becoming the norm. Martial laws were quickly set in place and the few logical individuals left banded together to create safe zones within the cities if worst came to worst. Stocked to the brim with "liberated" supplies, the safe zones would mark their escape routes. Guns and other weapons were quickly becoming a necessity among survivors, and fights often broke out over ammunition, leading to additional deaths.

Television and radio stations were now used mainly for emergency broadcasts and designating evacuation sites. A few where used for helping survivors in other ways, most notably was a show ran solely by the loan cameraman from New Orleans.

His first broadcast was the first sign of hope in a long time. He simply raised his arm to show a bite wound from an infected. It was slowly healing and he showed no sign of infection. The ex cameraman said he was now hold up in a fortified news station with seven other immune survivors. He gave advice on how to make safe areas into bunkers with fortified doors and windows that the infected couldn't break down. His experience led to many survivors to make a stand and saved many lives.

Two weeks later, it all stopped. Almost no remaining safe cities remained; either lost to the undead army or rebel groups. Radio towers and the like had either been over run or destroyed. All cell phones had lost usefulness days ago, and contact between humans was becoming rare. The only messages getting out were on shortwave radios used in evacuation zones, but by this time it was already too late.

The entire nation was now lost to the outbreak.

That's it, it turned out a bit longer than I thought it would but that's good I guess.

If you have any questions about my choices in the story background please e-mail or just ask in a review and I'll defiantly give you a shout out in the next chapter. I don't care what you say in a review; flame, congratulate, or criticize. I just like to know people are reading. As I promised earlier I'll jump straight into the story next time. I wrote this in about seven hours in all over three days, so the next update may take a week or so unless I get even more into the story. I'll post the next chapter once I get enough reviews... ten sounds good, but I wont throw something together if I get that many before I'm done so don't worry, I want this to turn out awesome.

So thanks for reading.

Peace.


	2. Getting Down With The Sickness

To all those that read the prologue, thank you. You people are now officially AWESOME. To those who didn't, why are you reading this now, read the first chapter thingy first you wankers, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.

I decided to go ahead and post my next chapter in hopes that a longer story will draw in readers. Things should be ok though because within two days of posting the first chapter I had eighteen readers, kind of encouraging. I'll try to keep this chapter long, but I'm not doing much more than setting a personal background for my main character.

I also realized that I forgot my disclaimer in the prologue, so here it is:

(Insert British accent here) ahem… I do not own any of the characters, nor the monsters, or even the overall general idea of the game Left 4 Dead, you wankers!

Now that that's in order, on to the first official chapter of Left 4 Dead: Homegrown!

KA-BOOM!!!

Left 4 Dead: HOMEGROWN

Chapter one, Getting Down With The Sickness.

"_Shit happens; you just gotta roll with it and wash it off later" Guardian Shotgun_

'_My name is Johnathan Baker. I live in Hubbard Texas, but I was in Corsicana during the city's outbreak. I had a fascination with the zombie culture ever since I started playing Resident Evil games years ago, but only now I can see why zombies are so utterly horrifying. It's not the fact that they look gross, or want to eat people. Nor is it that zombies were people we once knew and loved… it's that there __**fucking relentless**__._

'_It is now day… hmm…maybe five... yeah… day five of my own little zombie apocalypse. After the zombies started attacking the city I tried to drive out away from the zombie hoard… no luck. Within three minutes of operation: FLEE my car was stolen, driven off the road, ran into a street light, swarmed by the undead, then it spontaneously combusted… in about twenty seconds. As I said, no luck there. So my next plan of action was to return to the classroom I just left and curl up in a little ball. So far it has kept me alive, and I'm starting to enjoy the simplicity of this plan. Four other students, whom I did not know, our teacher, and I together hid in his history classroom at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. After this long, Mr. Stacy Henderson (yes that's _HIS _name) and I are all that's left._

'_The plan to live in this forty by twenty five foot room was foolproof until the third day. After the first few days of solitude: one student hung himself , another lost his mind and tore down a barricaded window and jumped into the arms of the waiting hoard of undead. We lost the other two unlucky ones in our desperate plan to break into the vending machine not forty five feet outside the door. _

'_When an unlucky survivor ran past our location, the zombies trying to tear down our barricade took chase. Realizing that we may not get another chance, we took this opportunity to break into the snack machines nearby for food. Armed with baseball bats that Henderson kept from his coaching days, we ventured outside. What we found was a world completely different from the one we left in panic not a few days earlier._

'_The sky was cloudy, giving the world a surreal blue tint, and random fires smoldered in the distance helping the effect. Splatters and smears of blood covered fifty percent of the landscape. Sidewalks, walls, cars, and even trees were covered in the crimson liquid. Random vehicles were strewn around as if a child had just upturned a box of toy cars. In the distance we could see more infected shambling about absentmindedly, so we kept as quiet as we could, but it couldn't last long. I was recruited to man the barricade, in case a swift retreat was needed. Knowing the consequences and preparing for the worst, Mr. Henderson brought the bat down. The glass shattered instantly, but not without drawing the attention of all the infected nearby. With an inhuman roar, a dozen zombies charged our position. _

'_The only thing that passed through my mind was "They aren't supposed to run." I always believed zombies were supposed to stumble, shamble, and crawl. They weren't meant to run, jump, and tackle. This seemed to be running through the minds of my fellow survivors too. The moment that scream pierced the air we lost one man. He took one look at the infected racing towards him and ran. He never looked back as he climbed a nearby fence while four infected cleared it two seconds behind him._

'_As the remaining eight pursuers closed in, Mr. Henderson and the other survivor grabbed what snacks they could and ran to the safe room. Henderson made it back first, he threw the food he collected into the room and went back to help. The remaining student was running with all with all the strength she had. All of the remaining zombies were focusing their attention on her, yet with her lead it looked like she would make it. Suddenly one of the infected dropped onto all fours, and with an inhuman leap it pinned her to the ground. It clawed desperately at her torso, but between her thrashing about and its current lack of claws it was only barely able to break the skin. Henderson charged out, with bat in hand, and tackled the creature off of her. With an animalistic roar he brought the club down on the infected's head._

'_During this time, the other seven zombies had closed a considerable amount of distance between themselves and their meal. Henderson rushed over to his student who was still on the ground. He bent down and scooped her up, running as fast as he could into the class room. _

'_Standing ready, I prepared for any infected that would obviously be attacking us as we rebuilt the barricade. As Henderson charged into the safe room, I grabbed for the door handle. I was met with the hand of an infected student; his/her face was missing an eye, its top lip, and an ear and a half. I remember every facial feature, or lack there for of, as it bit into my arm. Surprised, I stumbled backward to try to escape the zombie's grasp. Consequentially, the creature was pulled into the room with me, but in the process its foot caught the door, thus closing it._

'_With another roar, Mr. Henderson swung the bat at my attacker. The zombie's head was smeared onto the walls as its body collapsed on top of me. The sudden realization hit me, _I had been bit._ I was going to die the most horrible kind of death imaginable, a slow agonizing transformation into one of those… things. _

'_Henderson could obviously see the panic in my features. As he rebuilt the barricade of desks and computers, he reminded me of the immune guy on the TV. He reassured me that I might be safe from the virus, and that we all could be. At this moment the other student found it a good time to throw up. A scared look crossed her face as she stared at the blood mixed in with her own bile. The poor girl crawled over to a corner of the room and cried, Henderson tried to comfort her but she only sobbed more. Because of the many cuts and gashes received during her attack, the virus spread much more quickly. She never stopped bleeding, even well after my bite had stopped. Any time we tried to help her she would beg us to leave her alone._

'_She lasted five hours._

'_When her cries of sorrow finally turned to growls, Henderson acted. He made his way over quietly with the same bat that had saved her. As he reared back she suddenly sprung. She pinned him to the wall, snapping at Henderson as he held her back with his bat. I grabbed my own weapon with newfound courage that I would not be infected. I swung my bat down on her unguarded back, and was rewarded with a sickening crunch as her spine was destroyed. Her body immediately fell limp against the teacher, showing no signs of life._

'_Mr. Henderson lifted the body off of himself leaving behind the blood and bile from his previous student. Scratches littered his arms from where she had attacked him leaking crimson liquid, but otherwise he looked fine otherwise. I checked him over as much as I could; no fever, no shaking, and no signs of infection at all. As I smiled to him a relieved expression crossed his face, he and I were both immune._

'_With this new knowledge survival seemed all the more possible. Between the newly acquired food and the weapons we had, he and I could escape the college and find a way out of the city. The pounding on the doors no seemed like a challenge, and although we had lost a few fellow survivors things now looked hopeful.'_

John was roused from his thoughts. Eighteen years old, six foot nine and thin as a rail. He was slightly tan with large bushy brown hair. He had poor vision, leading to the glasses that had somehow survived the last five days. He wore a pair of baggy jeans, kept up by a simple brown belt, tennis shoes, and a simple white shirt adorned with different kinds of squiggly black art in the shape of a skating logo. Nothing about him was very attractive, mostly average, and John never was very athletic. The adrenaline and panic the situation caused had helped him survive this long, without that he could have died days ago.

Sleeping across the room was his fellow survivor now waking from his sleep. Mr. Stacy Henderson was thirty seven, six feet even, and he had an evenly proportioned physique. His coaching days had kept him muscular and lean. He was still wearing his teaching attire, a plain white collared shirt, dark brown slacks, and nice leather shoes. Henderson had probably been the reason John had survived these past days. Between fighting zombies and keeping the boy from going insane, the man had a lot on his plate but still remained hopeful.

The two survivors had been sleeping in shifts for two days now. The fear of the zombies outside eventually tearing down their barricade led them to being alert at all times. The plan to escape had been filed down to two options.

The first option was to charge out of our own barricade, bats swinging, and hope that they wouldn't be mauled to death. It was risky, but at least the duo would know where they were going. They also knew that the infected could go down pretty easily enough; destruction to the head, spine, or torso would stop its attacking.

Their other option was to escape through the air vents. This plan was much more subtle, which meant less infected to fight. The only downside was that they wouldn't know where they were going. They might follow the vents outside and land in an even bigger crowd of zombies.

Each plan had a chance of success, but each one might get them killed. In the end John and Henderson agreed to try the air vents. If things got too out of control, they could always turn back to the room, they couldn't retreat if they tore down their own barricade. Their next plan of action was to the nearest gun store or pawn shop. The idea of taking down a legion of undead with two baseball bats was not very likely. Hopefully they would make it out of the city and travel to the nearest evacuation site, if any were left.

John had the idea to escape to Alaska. The fact that zombies no longer had any body heat would cause them to freeze in arctic weather. Finally all those hours of reading the Zombie Survival Guide (1) would pay off. Too bad it focused on slow zombies, not these god awful running, jumping, and tackling ones now pounding at their door. He wasn't prepared for this, but who had been?

This led to the thoughts John had kept repressed for the last few days, what about his family? Cell phones and radios had gone down days ago, so when he took refuge in the classroom he had no way to contact his family. All of his family members living in Hubbard were at his parent's house since they live on the edge of town. Even his girlfriend's family was staying close and was planning to go there if the shit hit the fan. He hoped that word of the attack reached them quickly enough.

Hubbard was their first stop before searching out a possible evacuation zone. It was mostly to check on John's family to see if they had got away or not, but there were other reasons too. It had two grocery stores, quite a few restaurants, a police station, and other possible places to search for supplies. John also knew of a lot of families that kept guns and ammunition if they needed it.

So the full plan was to crawl out the air vents, find a car and drive thirty miles to Hubbard. Next they would search for survivors, look for a nearby evacuation site, and escape to Alaska. Once Henderson woke up they would gather up the remaining food into the salvaged backpacks and they would escape.

God help them.

Tada!

Wow another chapter, I know I promised a longer one but I felt this was a good place to leave off. I'm going to make the next few chapters a little different, as in people will actually talk between one another.

I'm probably going change the rating to M if the next few chapters continue how I picture them to. I'll slowly introduce the special infected into the story, you probably noticed the Hunter in this chapter. If anybody wants to beta for me that would be awesome.

Thank you for reading, but reviewing will help me out greatly PLEASE REVIEW!!!

With love… well maybe not _LOVE, _but… ah you understand.

Guardian Shotgun

(^(00)^) Evil Piggy!!!


	3. Zombies… bring ‘em on…

Hello everybody, welcome to the next chapter. I expect there to be more zombies, a few explosions, and at least a billion decapitations, muahahahah! Ok, seriously thanks to everybody that has read so far. When I started this chapter I had around sixty hits, more than I was expecting.

To **The Golden Echo:** thanks chick you are my first ever reviewer/favorite story-asizer…person... thanks you! YOU ROCK!

In this chapter I will start to introduce another survivor into the mix, but I don't know what will happen yet…. Lastly, as I promised this chapter will be much longer than its predecessors.

Now onto the next chapter of Left 4 Dead: Homegrown!

Narration

_Important stuff_

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

**SOUNDS**

BOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

Left 4 Dead: Homegrown

Chapter two, Zombies… bring 'em on…

"_Son… we just made it across the street. Don't throw a party till we're out of the city." Bill. L4D_

Stacy Henderson finally woke after seven hours of sleep. After several days of hearing the same sounds of banging on the door, it started to fade into the background. The constant beating no longer scared him or John, finding out that the enemy's main weapon is useless against you can do that. Now the sounds of the infected's persistent attempts to kill them almost seemed like a challenge.

The fact that both of them were immune to the zombie creating disease hope seemed more possible, but the barricade would not last forever. They now had at least eight or nine more zombies trying to get to them than before, and the door was beginning to crack. Within a day the infected would tear through and swarm the two survivors. The baseball bats they were currently using were effective at killing a single zombie at a time, but they probably wouldn't last long against a whole crowd.

John was in the corner, practicing his swing. Henderson had instructed him on how to properly swing the bat, in hopes to kill the creatures more efficiently. The boy was tall and could run, but he didn't have much upper body strength. With this in mind, Henderson was taking point, and John was following behind him.

"What is with your form, it's all over the place!" Henderson's built in coaching instincts kicked in; John was now swinging upward in an impossible angle.

John kept on swinging as he talked," I want to catch the fucker… under the jaw… break its teeth and… send the jaw into… the brain. Maybe I'll kill it quicker." John stopped swinging and walked over to the bag full of food.

He reached in and searched around, rummaging through the assorted snacks and bottled water. He pulled out a slightly worn, white paperback book. On its cover was a picture of a machete and a rifle crossing one the other in an x formation. Above that was the title in fake military-ish writing: The Zombie Survival Guide, By Max Brooks. John threw the book over to Henderson; he flipped through a few pages and laughed.

"You believe all this made up junk, boy? Shoot, none of this is useful." Henderson chuckled lightly as he read through the book.

John felt it necessary to defend the guide. "Hey, it lasted me this long, didn't it?" He puffed out his chest in hopes to seem more intimidating.

"It lasted you three minutes out there, and never in here. Unless you're gonna chunk it at some zombies, leave it." Henderson put the book down and crossed the room to John. He smiled and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's time we left, those guys are starting to annoy me." He jerked his head in the direction of the door for emphasis.

John gave a heavy sigh, and gave Henderson a nod of surrender. He put the book down and faced their escape, the vents that… hopefully… led to safety. The trip ahead would be long and dangerous, a lot of time they probably wouldn't know where they were going. This was a good time to get comfortable with the idea; any sense of safety would soon become scarce. Zombies would be everywhere and constantly be a danger to anything trying to even cross the street. Things weren't going to be easy for two people to fight a world of zombies with baseball bats.

John turned to face Henderson with a look of determination set on his face. "Alright, I guess it's time to go. Is all the food packed?" He checked the bag again; enough food to last the both of them a week. "Well… we'll have to find some supplies along the way to Hubbard. Hopefully the supermarket or my house wasn't cleaned out."

"Yeah, hopefully, if not… well we will find it somewhere else. But weapons are the first priority, remember?" Henderson raised his own bat, showing the small dent from his most recent kill. The bats would not last very long either, so new weapons, or better yet guns, were important.

"Yeah, yeah… I hear you." John responded, shouldering the backpack full of food and water. "You ready to leave?"

"Ugh, ready as I'll ever be." Henderson pulled his large teaching desk underneath the air vent in the ceiling.

He climbed on top of the desk and reached to remove the vent cover. It popped off easily and was thrown mercilessly to the other side of the class room. Henderson climbed in first, bat in hand and started to crawl as to make room. John took one last look around the room that had provided safety for the last few days. It felt strange to leave it to the wrath of the infected, but that was its fate. John climbed on the desk and passed his own bat up to Henderson and grabbed the ledge. With a mighty heave he pulled himself in. The ventilation was surprisingly roomy, enough to at least turn around in. Henderson took point, running the layout of the building through his head. Their room was near the edge of the building, but that meant the infected at the infected at their door could easily spot them. So they traveled deeper into the building hoping to come out near the other side.

The crawl through the vents took longer than they expected. Occasionally the two would cross a vent into another class rooms, and the scenes before them where disheartening. Blood was a constant factor in the rooms, occasionally accompanied with a limb or two. Sometimes a few stray zombies could be seen, aimlessly shambling about without a thought or purpose. They also had to be quiet as not to alert the hoard, which could _probably_ find some way to reach them. As long as John and Mr. Henderson stayed quiet the creatures below them were never the wiser. The zombies were attracted to loud sounds, smell only worked up close, and their sight worked like any human's. Sneaking could apparently be accomplished at distances so long as no noise was made, but if breaking glass could attract a crowd at two hundred yards John shuddered to think what a car alarm would do.

After thirty minutes of crawling through the ceiling they finally found their exit. Sunlight could be seen through an open vent at the end of the shaft the two currently were in. The vent would lead straight to the outside world through the hole in the wall.

But the sounds of soulless groaning could be heard too, portraying the immediate danger awaiting them.

Henderson stopped to think, if the infected were nearby it would be hard for the duo to defend each other while climbing down from their exit if they were spotted. If they could find a nearby classroom, they could sneak out quietly, fighting only what they needed to.

Henderson looked back to his fellow survivor, "John, here's the plan; we're gonna lower down into an empty classroom and sneak out. The library is nearby, we'll make a break there and work our way to the road, it'll lead us outta town."

John thought for a moment, "What if the zombies are all over the place, what are we gonna do then? The highway in front of the college runs all the way through Corsicana, and it was the quickest way in and out of the city. If people were escaping, they would most likely go there, and these undead fuckers would follow their food source anywhere."

Henderson could see his point and thought it over again, "We can check from the Administrative Building, it runs right along the street. If it's clear we follow it out of town, if not… hmm. We'll take to the baseball fields; they're close to the intersection. We'll follow it north and take the back roads to Hubbard."

John nodded in agreement, "Sounds good, not like there's anything better to do."

With that decided, John and Henderson used the closest vent available to drop into an empty classroom. They were lucky enough to find that the room had a window, their destination across a mostly abandoned parking lot, the Sanchez Library. It was a large brick building, two stories and rectangular in shape. The fire escape was the closest entrance, and if Henderson remembered, the library did not have any alarms, so it was also the safest way in.

Luckily enough, it was still midday. The sunlight would help them see and avoid any potential living carcasses.

"Ok, we'll cross the parking lot making as little sound as we can, the fire escape will be or way in. We can work our way down stairs and leave through the front door. From there we'll cross the court yard, under the clock tower, and into the student center." Henderson paused to see if John was following. He gave the teacher a nod for him to continue. "That trip will put us right next to the book store, which is connected to the Administrative Building, our goal."

John craned his neck to see out the small window, from there he could spot at least five random infected in the parking lot. "They," he emphasized '_they' _with a jerk of the head at the zombies, "won't be too much of a problem, but we may want to see what we can pick up along the way for better weapons."

Henderson nodded in agreement and the survivors fell silent, observing the task before them.

Sadie Graham jogged along a, thankfully, deserted street. The twenty one year old woman was feeling quite good with how things had turned around for her.

Sadie's long walk through Corsicana had been quite eventful. Between making her way through a city full of _fucking zombies… _ALONE, and finding safe places to sleep, things had been tiring. Armed with a pair of lovely pistols she found and all the ammunition she could need from a local gun store, she was as safe as she needed to be. The black and white Norinco M-1911A1 pistols, that she affectionately named Ebony and Ivory could put a zombie down in one shot. The satisfaction of being able to waste anything that so much as _looked_ at her funny was an intoxicating one. But… her food had been running low, and she still had a long way to go.

After a lucky break at a convenience store fate had rewarded her with a shotgun, a Remington 870, twelve gage, and with plenty of ammo hidden behind the main counter (no doubt so because of the worlds current state of panic). The food she gathered would last her a few weeks too, things were looking good again

All was well in Sadie's zombie apocalypse.

Her plan was to head west through the city, through the community college and stopping at the Wal-Mart on the east side of town. After that… she didn't know what to do. Maybe the supermarket giant would be well stocked and she could stay there until the zombies starved to death… or something.

No matter, Sadie was set, and nothing could ruin her good mood.

The trip to the Library was a success. The few zombies that spotted them were quickly disposed of. The bats were more effective than originally thought, the virus apparently weakened the infected's bone marrow. This resulted in easily destroyed skulls and fractured spines.

John and Mr. Henderson were currently positioned on top of the fire escape. Not knowing what could be on the other side, the two were prepared for the worst. John was by the door, ready to open it. Henderson had his bat in hands, tensed to kill anything that could be on the other side of the door. John tensed as he opened the door and ducked to the side so to get out of Henderson's way. After a few moments of silence the duo released a breath they didn't realize they were holding. They stepped into the building quietly, not knowing what might be hiding in wait.

The library was relatively empty; no sounds of infected creatures could be heard, and the two survivors lowered their guard. The inside of the building was in slight disarray, random shelves of books had fallen, and the occasional splatter of blood could be seen, but overall it showed no sign of past panic. The survivors walked lightly through the isles, hoping not to find any stragglers.

After reaching the grand staircase leading to the first floor, they found a different sight. The once grand polished tile floor was covered in blood and gore. Hair, limbs, and assorted body parts mixed in with the crimson liquid that painted the floor. The building had been a massacre, and it seemed no one even survived to run to the top floor. The main doors had obviously been barricaded, as many of the shelves on the bottom floor were scattered about. The doors were obliterated, as if a truck had drove straight through, but the offending object could not be found. The scene was unnerving, so the two decided to leave quickly.

The destroyed doors opened to a small flight of stone steps and straight into the court yard. The area was wide and open, at least fifty yards across, with nothing but a clock tower in the middle. On each side was a building; on their left was a large café, to the right was a large gymnasium. Directly across from the library were the Student Center, and a few yards behind _that_ was the Administration Building.

The only problem: the dozen, or more, zombies between the survivors and their goal.

John looked out into the grassy lawn and stared, "One, two…

"We could go around them."

"…four… five, six…"

"The cafeteria looks to be infested though."

"…seven… eight…"

"Maybe the gym won't be so bad?'

"…ten, eleven…twelve…"

"I think that one on the left is looking at us."

…thirteen…fourteen…"

"John, are you listening"

"…fifteen. Yeah, I think we can take them." John half yelled out with confidence.

Henderson let out an exasperated sigh, "Shh! There was no way that the two of us can take on fifteen zombies with a couple of bats boy. We'll be slaughtered!" He hissed out the last sentence realizing he was almost yelling too.

John turned his head and whispered back, "Nah, your thinking about it wrong. If we get their attention, we can funnel the in here and take 'em out one by one!" He looked over to his partner, smiling at the brilliance of his plan.

Henderson, on the other hand, was against the idea. Anything that led to confronting any of those monsters on purpose was crazy in his book. But what chance did they have otherwise? He sighed in defeat, "Alright, I'll take the left side, you take the right, together we'll…

**BANG!**

Gunshot rang through the courtyard as a few of the infected turned their attention towards the cafeteria.

**Bang! Bang-ba-bang!**

A lone figure stood by the café and was gunning down the zombies before them one by one. Before long only three were left, still blissfully unaware of the danger approaching them. It was young woman, maybe in her early twenties. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a black Metallica t-shirt and a pair of heavy black boots. There was a large white bag on her back, obviously full of her supplies. She was short, looking to be about five and a half feet with dark red hair. She was using a pair of black and white handguns and on her back was a mean looking black shotgun.

As she crossed the yard and killed the remaining three zombies, our heroes walked carefully out of the library, hoping not to surprise her.

"H-hello? Ma'am, can you hear me?"

Sadie nearly jumped in surprise when she heard the voice of another human calling to her. It was deep and slightly rough, defiantly an old guy.

"Huh," she called back, "who's there, where are you?"

"Umm… over here, by the library." This time it was a different voice, slightly higher and a little smoother, teenage boy, ugh.

She turned around to the library building she had walked by, and sure enough two figures were standing in the trashed doorway. Both looked slightly tired and they were covered in dirt. The taller one was the younger, tall, lanky and bespectacled… nerd. The slightly shorter one was the first voice, a teacher still half dressed for work, even worse. But these were survivors and, if they lasted this long, they might be immune too.

Oh well, the more the merrier.

"Oh, there you are. Wait there, I'm coming over." Sadie jogged the short distance to the library and her fellow survivors. Up close the two looked like more than she was expecting. The building they were in was a blood bath, but neither seemed to be too bothered by it. The gore on their cloths also were sending a different message than what she was expecting, at least they could fight.

"Hello, I'm Stacy Henderson"

'_Stacy? Wow. But that's for another time.'_

"And I'm John"

'_Eh, at least he looks serious.'_

The two looked to her, silently asking her name.

"I'm Sadie, you both immune?" She raised her arm showing a few scratches that she had received from numerous zombies. The healing scars effectively portrayed her immune status.

The younger one, John, lifted his arm to show a faint scar shaped like a crescent moon on his wrist; no doubt it was from a zombie's bite. Henderson let her see the multiple scratches along his own arm.

Sadie smiled to herself, "Looks like we're going together then, eh? Where are ya'll heading too?"

Henderson spoke up first, "We're heading east to a small town called Hubbard. Hopefully we'll find a ride on the way there. From then we were gonna try to find any evac sites still running."

Well, it sounded a lot better than her plan, "Aright, I'll go with you, you look like you could use some help anyway. I guess you can lead the way."

Sadie smiled at the confused looking survivors.

Things were indeed looking up for her.

_What was with this girl_? What happened to make her this crazy? Did she not know the dangers they were in?

Out of the blue this happy gun wielding chick had walked in, mowed down fifteen zombies, and talks to them like nothing close to the apocalypse was happening. But actually having guns might do that to a person in these conditions. So maybe she deserved her happiness, either John or Henderson would be glad to have a pistol right now. They were unbelievably happy to find another survivor, strange or not. She seemed confident, but that _could_ be mistaken for crazy…

John followed along as the group of three made their way to the administration building, reminiscing to the conversation before. An agreement had come across to share the wealth. In other words Henderson had convinced Sadie to let them borrow her handguns, while she got to keep the shotgun.

Sadie missed her _babies,_ as she called them, but you just don't say no to keeping the shotgun.

Sadie was walking beside Henderson, scanning the area before them. From outside the building was quiet. The group approached the building and John opened the wooden doors cautiously just like before, prepared for anything….

…except a few dozen infected inside the building staring right back at them.

John immediately shut the doors praying to god that they weren't seen, but the screams of rage coming from inside the building confirmed their fears. The three survivors retreated back, past to the clock tower and into the Library. Behind them the sounds of shattering glass and fists beating on doors rang out. Seeing no other option, our three heroes turned on the stone steps of the library and faced the building, guns raised.

Sadie, now finally worried, quickly spun around and placed her back pack on the ground. "There's ammo clips in the bag, grab a few for now, but try to leave some for later." She opened the bag revealing a few boxes of shells and a good amount of handgun clips underneath.

Curiosity got the better of John, "were did you find all this?"

"Gun store," she replied, "this and the guns were all that was left."

"Eyes forward!" Henderson signaled. The first few zombies were bursting through the front windows. John and Henderson opened fire. Henderson's shots were controlled and easily found their target.

John… not so much.

"You can't shoot shit" Sadie yelled above the gunfire.

"No fucking duh!" John shouted back angrily, tapping his glasses for emphasis. "Trade me, there getting closer!"

"Why the hell should I?"

"It's a FUCKING SHOTGUN! You don't have to be a good shot! You just point and click, it kills everything for you!"

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT-UP! THE'RE HALF-WAY HERE!" Henderson screamed at them while still shooting.

"Ugh… fine! Give me that!" John gladly traded the handgun back to her, kneeling down between the shooters for a better shot.

The zombies began to fall much quicker now, between the two older survivors the infected pretty much running into a wall of gunmetal. The two were like a well oiled machine; as one would fire, the other would reload, taking up the slack and holding off the hoard on both sides. When the other came back, their partner would quickly pick up any ground lost and continue as normal.

But it still wasn't enough.

There had been more than the trio had counted on, at least sixty. With twenty five zombies still charging, and gaining fast, John finally got his turn. As the zombies began to reach the steps he kneeled down, swung the shotgun around to the nearest disfigured face, and fired. In one shot John killed one infected and knocked back another. He quickly cocked the gun and fired at another on small group on his left and killed two more.

With John working perimeter and Henderson and Sadie effectively taking care of everything out of his range, the hoard was quickly reduced to one, looking at the survivors with unparalleled hunger. It studied them from thirty yards away, and in a split second it attacked.

The lone zombie let loose a familiar scream of rage as everything seemed to slow down. It dropped to its hands and feet, at the same time its attention shifted to Sadie. Henderson fired but the shot went wide as the zombie went airborne. It launched itself into the air and arced almost gracefully to her. It landed directly on her chest and, using its momentum, brought her down with it. Time returned to normal as the creature cawed mercilessly at her.

"Get it off! GET IT OFF! GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF!!!" Sadie screamed as she fought back, using her arms as shields. Henderson reached for his bat but John was quicker. Using the only thing he learned from middle school football, he charged the zombie with his shoulder down and tackled it off of her. It was lighter than he expected, as it was sent rolling along the bloodstained tile. He followed its body to where if finally stopped. As the infected stopped moving, it was met with a foot on its torso. John pinned the zombie and raised the shotgun's barrel to its face.

"Bye." He closed one eye and pulled the trigger.

**Boom! CHK-CHK**

The zombie's head was now a bloody smear on the gore covered steps of the library. John turned around and offered a hand to Sadie, who was still on the ground.

"That's why I want the shotgun." A shit eating grin was plastered on his face. "I always wanted to do that." He now knew why this crazy girl had been so confident before.

Guns are very fun in a world like this.

_**End of chapter two**_

Now that was fun to write, I've wanted to use that argument over the shotgun for a long time. It's an actual fight I had with a friend when he took the last good shotgun in Left 4 Dead one.

As I promised this chapter is longer that the others, about twice as long in fact. Now that the group has _effective_ weapons to fight with it will be easier to type more.

In my haste of finishing the last chapter, I forgot something very important. The book: The Zombie Survival Guide is a real book by Max Brooks. I do not own it in any way.

As I said please read and review

BYE!


	4. Some Simple Sanctuary Sounds…

Hello! I'm back to do some more damage. After a break for the weekend, I'm coming back for another chapter of Homegrown. I'm proud to announce that I've broken the one hundred hits milestone, a big personal accomplishment. The reading is nice but I would appreciate a few reviews to see what people think of the story.

Also, after scoping out my locations of choice, I now know most of the direction that this story will follow. After this chapter I will begin placing my Author's notes at the end of the chapters.

And now with all introductions aside, I now bring you the next chapter of Left 4 Dead: Homegrown.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything…T.T

(^(00)^)

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

Narration

**Sound effects**

_**INFECTED **_

_Important/Exaggeration_

WALL WRITING (_new)_

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Chapter 3: some simple sanctuary sounds… shit I ran out of words starting with 's'!

"_Hey, Francis, if I ever turn, can you shoot me?" "What if your beard turns, can I shoot that?" _

_Bill/Francis, L4D_

"Get it off! GET IT OFF! GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF-GET-IT-OFF!!!" Sadie screamed as she fought, back using her arms as shields. Henderson reached for his bat but John was quicker. Using the only thing he learned from middle school football, he charged the zombie with his shoulder down and tackled it off of her. It was lighter than he expected, as it was sent rolling along the bloodstained tile. He followed its body to where if finally stopped, and as the infected stopped moving, it was met with a foot on its torso. John pinned the zombie and raised the shotgun's barrel to its face.

"Bye." He closed one eye and pulled the trigger.

**Boom! CHK-CHK**

The zombie's head was now a bloody smear on the gore covered steps of the library. John turned around and offered a hand to Sadie, who was still on the ground.

"That's why I want the shotgun." A shit eating grin was plastered on his face. "I always wanted to do that." He now knew why this crazy girl had been so confident before.

Guns are very fun in a world like this.

(^(00)^)

Sadie sat on the floor a moment dazed and confused, apparently oblivious to the hand he was offering her. John couldn't blame her though, it all happened really fast. On moment a zombie was trying to claw a hole straight through her to China. Four seconds later he was standing over her with blood covering most of his features and a stupid grin adorning the rest.

She finally noticed the gore covered floor she was sitting on and gladly accepted his hand. She was light, so at least John did not make a fool of himself by falling as she used him to straighten herself. The next thing she saw was the corpse of her late attacker. Everything above the shoulders was gone, reduced to the red smear now adorning the floor.

The fact that this single creature could have easily killed her was frightening. She spent most of the last week obliterating these creatures and this lone zombie… A feeling of fear seemed to finally hit the poor girl… fear and weakness.

Striding over to the dead…deader creature, she did what every sensible, angry, red-blooded American would do…

She kicked it.

"Ha! Whatcha gonna do now, HUH!? Thought you could kill me!? NU-UH! Not a chance! YOU…FUCKING…PIECE…OF…SHIT!" Her last statement was accented with her pausing to stomp on the creature's dead carcass. Sadie then made a disgusting snorting noise and promptly spit a wad of mucus on its body. Satisfied with the verbal lashing, she tuned around to the boys, who stood watching from a safe distance away from the enraged woman. "What the fuck are you looking at?" John and Henderson suddenly found the ceiling quite fascinating.

It came to his attention that Sadie never _really_ did anything to the zombie while it was alive, but John decided to keep his mouth shut. He never understood women. Turning back to see if she was ok, the teen realized Sadie's state of dress; the Metallica shirt had been torn to ribbons, leaving little to the imagination. In an attempt to drown out the lone female survivor, John averted his attention to the other survivor.

A few feet away from the strange duo, Henderson surveyed the mutilated field of zombies before them. The group's last feat had seemed impossible; after an attack of at least sixty zombies nothing was left but the cold bodies of the recently undead. It seemed the zombies fell quite easily, but the leaping kind seemed different. With all the zombies he and John, maybe even Sadie, had killed, not one flown like the last creature had.

It was special.

Henderson looked down to the pistol in his hand. The black metal shined in the setting sun, giving it an ominous look. He looked between it and the bat in his hand; he preferred the comfort and power of the club beside him instead of the gun.

The ex-teacher walked back to the other survivors as John realized Sadie was still talking. The poor boy was being verbally brought down by the small girl standing in front of him. She was obviously embarrassed at being bested by the creature, and her current anger was being used to disguise her true emotions.

"If you two would kindly wrap this up, we need to move on. Who knows what our little fight attracted, maybe even more infected." Henderson looked to his fellow survivors, and received a slight nod from each. He looked back to the pistol still in his hand, obviously considering something. With a heavy sigh, he held the pistol out, offering it to Sadie, "I hate to say it, but you're a better shot than me. You can have this back and I'll join John at the front."

Sadie went from angry to ecstatic instantly. She snatched the pistol from his hands, cradling it in her hands. "Did the old man not appreciate you? I'm so sorry Ebony. I'll treat you better than him." She spoke to the gun as if it were her own child. With a final… disturbing kiss to the barrel she checked the safety and tucked it in the back of her jeans.

(^(00)^)

After dividing up the ammo and necessities, the trio began their trek across the courtyard and back to the student center. By some stroke of luck, the fight held not minutes ago did not attract any more zombies. A quiet had fallen over the group, the legions of infected could be around any corner and they needed to be prepared.

Sadie always had her white gun, Ivory as she called it, in hand. In case of emergency her second pistol was within reach.

John kept the shotgun in hand, foregoing the holster Sadie had earlier offered. Most of the gun's ammo was kept in a part of his bag he could easily reach, but he kept a few shells in his pocket for quick access. The shotgun was resting on his left shoulder, being held in place by his corresponding hand (left also if you didn't understand). When asked why he simply stated, "It looks cool."

Henderson walked in front of the group, wielding his favorite bat. The other that John had carried was tucked in the spare shotgun holster the younger boy didn't need. Henderson carried both in case his main one was damaged.

All together, John thought the small group actually looked intimidating… not that it mattered to the infected. After the short walk, the survivors were rewarded with an empty building. The horde residing in the student center seemed to have all taken part in their last assault.

"All the easier for us," commented Sadie, her cocky attitude returning.

"Shh," Henderson turned around to scold the girl, "empty or not we don't want to take the risk, do we?"

Sadie's retort was to stick her tongue out, mocking the older man. She whispered to herself, "Meh, kill the mood won't cha?"

John had to suppress his laughter. The two would probably be annoying each other for the rest of their trip. The road ahead was looking a little more enjoyable now.

(^(00)^)

The student center was a mostly large, spacious room, with a few smaller rooms attached. The room itself was adorned in help desks and posters advertising Navarro College. There was a second floor and a basement, but neither one was important right now. Across from the door the survivors entered, was the way out, two small glass double doors. The doors led out into a garden, surrounded on all four sided by the student center and the administrative building. The area had been significantly damaged, one of the three trees had somehow been uprooted, blocking the right side of the gardens. The source of the destruction was mysteriously absent, as like the destroyed library doors.

The survivors jogged across the room quickly. The idea that their journey was nearly over was becoming an intoxicating one. A scarce few zombies resided in the garden, but not nearly enough to pose a threat. As John held one door open, Sadie quickly exterminated the infected before there presence was discovered. Satisfied, the survivors entered into the garden, assessing the best way into the building before them. The Administrative Building was not built wide, but long. It started nearly immediately to their left and continued on for more than a hundred yards in the other direction. There were originally three entrances from the garden into the building, one on the right and two to the left. The door to the right was obviously out of the question, so the group resigned to the two on the left.

The closer entrance was a pair of sliding doors leading into the college book store. This way would lead them through more of the administrative building and possibly more infected. The other door was only a few yards away. It led strait into the main hall running through most of the entire building. The hall ended into a large auditorium used for hosting plays and important meetings. Past the auditorium, there was an exit facing the east, and out to the baseball fields. Obviously the second door was the better choice, too bad it was demolished. The door itself was caved in, yet another demolished object for no apparent reason.

After trying to un-wedge the door from its frame, the trio decided to try door number one.

Sadie sat staring at the door with a look of strained concentration. No zombies appeared to be on the other side, but another thought was plaguing her thoughts, "How exactly _are_ we gonna get it open?" The power supplied to the door, along with most of the college, was out.

"Simple," Henderson stated in a wise tone, slightly mocking the younger girl. "John and I will pry it open, while you put _this_," he handed her the spare bat, "in between the doors to prop it open."

Sadie looked to the older man, clearly thinking _'this is never going to work'. _But with a heavy sigh she complied with her part in the plan.

John and Henderson positioned themselves on either side of the doors as Sadie stood ready to play her part. With a mighty heave, the two men gripped the edges and pulled the doors apart. The doors themselves pulled back, trying to shut. Once the doors gave way enough, Sadie rushed in and wedged the doors apart with the bat.

"John, you go first." Henderson looked to the youngest survivor and jerked his head to the inside room.

"Ok, we'll help hold it open while you get through." John released his side of the doors and quickly grabbed the other side.

"Ready Sadie?" John called to the older girl, who soon pulled back on Henderson's door.

"Ready, but hurry up. I can't hold this long." Sadie strained to hold the door back.

"On three, I'll let go, ok?"

**CRACK**

The bat between the doors began to strain under the force placed on it. John gripped his door harder as his fingers turned purple.

"One…Two…THREE!"

Henderson let go of his door and leaped into the book store. John and Sadie let go as the bat finally snapped.

**CRRACK**

**SLAM!**

The doors snapped back together from all the force that had built, so much so that the doors could have easily snapped Henderson in half.

The older man lifted himself off the ground, giving a relieved sigh that he was still in one piece.

"Well… that was fun." John heaved as he caught his breath.

Sadie rolled her eyes at him, gasping all the time. "Yeah…let's almost kill… ourselves more…often." She replied sarcastically.

Henderson looked sadly at the last remaining slivers of wood from his bat. With a small pitiful sigh he said, "That was my favorite one too."

"Suck it up man, it is… was just a bat."

Sadie looked to the man, slightly annoyed as he grabbed a few pieces and placed them in his pocket. He turned to the twisting hallway that connected the book store to the Administrative Building, leaving the confused survivors staring at his retreating figure.

John sighed at Sadie's lack of sympathy to the older survivor.

"What?" Sadie asked, not realizing her mistake. "What did I do?"

"Never mind, let's just catch up before he finds more zombies."

The remaining survivors jogged into the hallway, looking to catch up with their lone teammate.

(^(00)^)

At the end of the hallway, the trio met with a slight…problem.

It was not zombies. The few infected that had crossed the group were quickly disposed of. The zombies of past students had been trapped in the building, all the obvious exits had been destroyed.

The real trouble came in the form of a few overturned bookshelves. They had been made into a barricade in hopes of holding off the horde.

Henderson approached the makeshift wall, calling out to any survivors beyond it. "Hello? Anyone in there?" He lowered his view to a gap in the barricade. He looked on for a few moments…

"_**GRAAHHH!"**_

…And a mutilated arm reached back through the hole, trying to grab him.

Henderson leaped back, startled by the figure.

The inhuman growl obviously belonged to an infected.

John placed a hand on Henderson's shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"What did you see?"

Henderson closed his eyes and shook his head, no one had survived.

"Did it end on the other side?" John changed the subject slightly to stop his thoughts.

"There was another barricade, not far from the one here. It would take some time to bring this one down, let alone the other one."

Sadie decided to ad her thoughts, "And who knows how many had been zombified behind there." Her statement was accented with another arm trying to claw its way out of the barricade.

"We could go around. There's another hall above us. The second floor is made mostly of classrooms, a long hallway, and some more stairs on the other end." John pointed to the stairs beside them to prove his point.

Henderson cheered up a bit at this. "Good idea, we could check the roads from one of the class windows too."

With the unanimous agreement the survivors began their trek upward. The upper hallway was strangely clear, no zombies or signs of panic were to be seen. Not to complain, the survivors gladly took this moment of peace.

The trio entered the closest room on their right side, which would have a window facing the highway. Entering the unlocked room carefully, they were met yet again with no creatures of the horde.

Henderson quickly went to the window, followed soon after by the others. The sight they saw was not what they were prepared for.

The highway that turned into the main road throughout Corsicana was overrun. Zombies littered the street, hundreds of them. Every fifty or so feet a riot fence had been placed. Many of them had been overturned, while the few that had been set up carefully still stood. The infected shuffled about in their drunken stupor, few even climbed the fences still standing.

If the survivors wanted to leave the building to the road, they would certainly die.

Henderson couldn't take it. The library, the road, even the very floor underneath them, the horde was there. No matter where they were, there would be infected waiting for them. "What now?" he asked the others, "Where do we go." Henderson sat heavily onto a nearby desk, tired and beaten.

"Plan B" John said as he turned form the window. The youngest survivor sat beside the older man as he continued, "We continue down the building and exit to the baseball fields. We can put some distance between us and them and use the back roads to get out of town."

Sadie too turned from the window, "There's a… country road that heads east towards Dawson. It's close to the city park not to far from here… it's past the church, right?" She looked between the two for a confirmation.

"I… think so." John replied, "Dawson's just a few hours' walk from Hubbard. We'll find an evac and leave this nightmare. After that it's hello Alaska. I'm gonna need a damn big coat."

Henderson looked between the two, a new spark of life in his eyes. "You're right… it's not too far, maybe a mile from the fields. After that…"

**Thump…**

"SHH! Hear that." John cut the man off in mid sentence. He jumped up and looked around, searching for the source of the noise.

**Thump…**

"There it is again!" He exclaimed, happy that he wasn't hearing things.

Sadie looked at the boy as if he lost his mind. "I don't hear shit. You're ju…"

"Shh…" John waved to the girl, trying to silence her.

**Thump…**

Sadie didn't take that too well. "Boy did you…"

"Quiet… I hear it too." This time it was Henderson to silence her.

**Thump…Thump…Thump…**

"Umm… I hear it too now." Sadie reached behind her, pulling out Ebony.

The group quietly retreated to the hallway as the noise became louder. They were surprised to find it still empty. There was no sign of whatever was making the noise.

**Thump…Thump…**

"Where the hell is that coming from?" Sadie swept the halls, searching franticly.

"It's below us!" John said looking back to the stairs that they had previously climbed. He rushed over only to find it deserted. "Not here yet."

"How come you can hear it and we can't?" Sadie was beginning to quickly lose her nerve.

"I don't know, probably because I can't see well."

**THUMP…THUMP…**

"It's getting louder… John what direction is it coming from?" Henderson decided to follow the boy's senses since nothing else seemed to work right now.

"Umm… I think the stairs at the end of the hall. I think it's a…"

"_**HUURRHH…"**_

...infected."

"Fuck." Guess who.

**THUMP…THUMP…THUMP…**

As the creature reached the top of the staircase, the survivors were shocked. Time once again seemed to slow, giving the three a chance to truly see the creature.

The infected was different than any they had seen. It was _tall_… easily seven to seven and a half feet. The torso was the second biggest part of the creature, giving it its height. The creature's shoulders were impossibly wide, much wider than its waist. Its legs seemed slightly smaller than they should; giving the monster almost a triangular shape. The infected's head was easily the smallest part of the creature.

But the infected's arms were by far its strangest feature. The left arm was small and disfigured. The puny appendage was only a foot long and looked unusable. The right arm was what made the creature terrifying. It was wide, even wider than its mutated torso. It was longer than the beast was tall, dragging along behind it.

As the abomination finished its climb on the other end of the hall, the survivors realized there was nowhere to run. The exits downstairs were blocked and the main doors led to the overrun highway. On their left was the room they just left, and to the right was the stairway, not much fighting room.

Sadie turned to Henderson, hoping for a plan. "What do we do?"

Hearing her, the beast faced the small group one hundred feet away. _**"Hrrrruuh?"**_ It stupidly stared at them.

Henderson's grip on the bat tightened, "We kill it. If it gets too close, we'll split up. You go down the stairs, and we'll go to the room. Whoever it doesn't follow will come back and we'll attack from both sides. Understand?"

"Got it." John raised his shotgun and aimed down the barrel to the behemoth.

"This'll either be fun… or painful." Sadie brought her pistols to eye level and readied herself.

Henderson raised his hand. "Hold…"

"_**HHUUURRH!" **_The creature let loose a primitive war cry.

"Hold…"

It began to advance at a strange jogging pace, shaking the floor slightly.

"FIRE!"

Sadie shot first, simultaneously firing both pistols. It didn't seem to notice as it continued its advance. When the monster reached the invisible half way point John poured a round of buckshot into it. The shot hit dead on, knocking it back a few steps.

The creature noticed_ that_.

"_**HHRRRRRGGG…"**_ It growled as its attention shifted to John.

"_**HUUURRRRAAAAAHHH!!"**_

"Oh shit man, you pissed it off!" Sadie's attention rapidly shifted between John and the angered creature fifty feet away as she continued to fire.

"Good!" With a look of determination, he cambered another round. John looked to the blood pooling at the monster's feet. _'I can kill it...'_

Henderson called out to the others, "Get ready to split." "Three…"

John dropped to one knee, staring down the barrel at his target.

"Three…"

John… what are you doing?" Sadie paused to reload and noticed the youngest survivor.

The monster raised one arm like a shield.

"Two…"

"_**HHUURRRAAAAHHH!!"**_

The monster charged towards the group with great speed.

"John! Get the fuck up!"

"ONE!"

Henderson and Sadie leapt to their respected tides, but John stayed. He fingered the trigger, waiting for the perfect shot.

'_Come and get it' _"You fucking PIECE OF SHIT!"

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" Sadie screamed at him.

As the oversized infected neared, John pulled the trigger. Every piece of buckshot hit the creature's arm, but it never stopped.

"FUCK!" John expected it to stumble again, but the arm was shielding it too well. Too late to dodge, John quickly pumped and fired again, but still to no avail.

'_Shit…' _That was the only thought running through his mind as the monster reached him. He was picked up by the force of its charge and carried as it ran into the wall ten feet behind him and finally stopped.

John's head hit the wall and made him see stars. The creature backed up and he fell from the indention his body had made. It reached down with its larger arm and lifted him easily as he scrambled to find the shotgun he dropped.

"JOHN!" Sadie ran out of her room and immediately began firing again at the monster's back.

Henderson realized what had happened and followed Sadie over to the monster holding the youngest survivor. He pushed past her, causing her to stop firing, and brought the bat down on the creature's spine, as John had done not a few days ago.

The effect was instant; the monster released John and turned to him. It swung its arm in an attempt to hit the older man, but Henderson ducked and rolled back to dodge it. "Aim for the face!" he called to Sadie, who eagerly complied and opened fire.

John was still dazed and confused, but at least he wasn't being run into anything anymore. By his side was the shotgun, unaffected by the earlier attack. He reached over and pulled the gun to him by the stock. After getting a good grip he brought it up and aimed at the monster's head, only for it to explode in a shower of blood, bone, and brain matter. The behemoth's body swayed and fell, slumping into a disgusting pile of flesh.

"Now we're even kid." Sadie stepped over the creature towards him and offered a hand to help him up. She had a shit eating grim plastered on her face.

"Ha ha ha, very funny." John reached up to take her hand but a sharp pain suddenly erupted from his right side, causing him to drop his arm quickly. "Ouch…"

"That's what you get for playing hero when you didn't even need to." Henderson shook his head and reached down to help Sadie get him up.

"My bad." John grunted as they lifted him back onto his feet.

John stood still as Henderson looked him over, using hiss skills from coaching to asses the damage. "You bruised a rib. The pain will pass in after a few days. Just don't rely on your right side too much and be prepared to feel pain in the mornings."

"As long as it ain't broken." John steadied himself as the group proceeded down the hall. The stairs were barren, like the rest of the hall, and so was the room beneath it.

"What the hell is that?" Sadie pointed to the object she was questioning, a room.

The room itself didn't seem out of the ordinary, but the door is what caught her attention. It was painted red and made of metal. Beside the door on the wall was a crudely painted house with a cross in it. The house was as red as the door beside it and an arrow was painted beneath it, pointing toward the room.

"That… would be a safe room." John looked to the door as if it were a long lost friend. "Remember the hacker that broadcasted all those tips on survival? This was one of those ideas of his. He showed people how to make safe rooms into nothing short of a bunker from the undead."

Henderson stared at the safe room, slightly confused. "When did anybody have _time_ to do this?"

"Don't know. Don't give a fuck. As long as it means we get to sleep safely I don't care how it got here. Just roll with it, or it might decide to leave." Sadie walked into the room, leaving two slightly confused men outside. For a few moments they wondered why they were not already inside.

Just a few.

(^(00)^)

END CHAPTER THREE

(^(00)^)

AND… done! Sorry for the wait but I took the weekend off to collect my thoughts.

Yes I will be slowly introducing the special infected. No I am not using the Jockey or Spitter, I do not know how to explain how they work.

The hunter will be used often, it's my favorite!

Once again please read and review. I typed thirteen pages, one hundred hits, and finally broke ten thousand words, I WANT SOME FUCKING CONGRATULATIONS DAMNIT!

Erhm… that aside I finish this story on a high note…

(^(00)^) evil piggy!


	5. Monsoon

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Chapter 4: Monsoon

"_Fighting the storm, into the blue, and when I lose myself I'll think of you…"_

_Excerpt from Monsoon, by Tokio Hotel_

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

Narration

**Sound effects**

_**INFECTED **_

_Important/Exaggeration_

WALL WRITING 

"That… would be a safe room." John looked to the door as if it were a long lost friend. "Remember the hacker that broadcasted all those tips on survival? This was one of those ideas of his. He showed people how to make safe rooms into nothing short of a bunker from the undead."

Henderson stared at the safe room, slightly confused. "When did anybody have _time_ to do this?"

"Don't know. Don't give a fuck. As long as it means we get to sleep safely I don't care how it got here. Just roll with it, or it might decide to leave." Sadie walked into the room, leaving two slightly confused men outside. For a few moments they wondered why they were not already inside.

Just a few.

(^(00)^)

"But you're coming back soon, right?" She looked up to him, she was a full head shorter and he loved the way it made feel like he could protect her. Her blue-gray eyes were filed with worry and her pale face twisted into an expression closely resembling pain. Her red hair was that usually reflected the sun so beautifully was now a dull brown from the gray clouds above them.

He chuckled at her expression. Unlike the smaller girl, John didn't see the danger. "I'm gonna be fine hon, I'm just going to Corsicana. I'm gonna go to the college and pick up the refund for my classes. After that I'm coming right back to you." With his family's plans of leaving, they needed all the money they could get, just in case.

"But _why_ do you have to go. It's safer here and… and…" She was at it again. The girl could be so stubborn when she didn't agree with something. She sat on the hood of his gray Chevrolet Blazer. The small van had been cleaned out and repaired, putting it near perfection. After three days they had made enough room for the pile of supplies that were carefully prepared in the garage for easy loading, just in case.

John cupped her cheek in his hand. The small girl couldn't help but look up into his eyes. "I'll be _fine_." He explained to her. "There hasn't been a zombie sighting within a hundred miles of here. Nothing will happen in the next two hours that will keep me from coming back."

Her face slowly turned from worried to annoyed, as it always did during the few times she actually lost an argument. "Fine, go endanger yourself even more. You think that you understand what's happening, but no one does babe. Just promise me you'll be safe, ok?"

"Adrienne Donaldson," he whispered her name into her ear, "I promise you I'll be back soon. I also promise that I will do nothing reckless."

"Damn right you won't," she hopped down from the hood of the Blazer and looked up into his eyes again, "and you better not break that promise or I'll…!"

John leaned down and caught her lips, effectively cutting her off. Adrienne grunted in annoyance at first, but soon she responded with kissing him back. After a few moments he broke the kiss.

"I'll see you soon love."

"See you too… love you."

"Love you too."

(^(00^)

"Adrienne…"

John woke up to an excruciating amount of pain; it felt as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to his ribs. Rolling over to his left side he still couldn't find comfort, so he gave up on any chances for sleep. The plastic sickroom bed that was left in the room had been enough to help him sleep with his bruised rib, but it didn't help towards the morning pain.

"Boy, I told you it would hurt." The sound of popping joints filled the air as Henderson rose from his chair. The older man had been chivalrous enough to let his younger partners the better beddings. After the pain left him John could hear rain. A light shower seemed to have descended on the outside world.

Sadie slept in a sleeping bag in the corner furthest from the large metal door. The girl had gone to sleep muttering about perverted old men and horny teenagers and now she was snoring loudly as far from the other two as she could be.

Henderson walked over to the plastic bed John was using and helped the younger boy up. John bit his lip as the pain returned, but after a few moments it faded away. Henderson had been right; the pain was not so bad, but after staying in one spot for a while, getting up was a bitch. He smiled at the older man, hiding the pain, but his growling stomach gave way to a new problem.

"Hungry, eh? Well, thanks your _daring heroics_ yesterday you get to eat the food that got crushed in your bag."

Henderson poked fun at the younger survivor, giving him a 'you know you deserve this' look. John liked that about Henderson, he was tough but fair. He had to agree that after his stupid stunt with the fucked up zombie there had to be a consequence besides some pain.

The chips in John's bag had been reduced to crumbs and powder. It was a sad sight seeing the boy gag on powdered Fritos and wash it down with warm water, but he took it none the less. Food was food, and John was glad to have at least something to eat.

Sadie's snoring finally ended as the lone female survivor arose from her sleeping bag, hair in a mess "Would you idiots keep it down, I'm sleeping!" She glared at her companions, who were laughing at her state of being. She cocked her head to the side, listening to the rain outside. "Fuck! I hate rain." This caused the boys to laugh once again. As John's laughter died down, he reflected on last night, the safe room had done wonders to raise the group's spirits.

(^(00)^)

Sadie had been lucky when they found the room; a small supply of clothing had been found, along with other supplies. She used this opportunity to fix her state of dress. After sorting through the pile (and kicking the boys out for a few minutes), she found a small black t-shirt her size. Other then the beddings and clothes, there was little else in the room. There had been a bit more food and some medical supplies, but otherwise nothing.

When the inevitable dilemma of… bodily functions arose, Henderson offered a can that previously was filled with food. Sadie promptly slapped the older survivor and left the room to use a restroom three doors down the hall. The group came to an agreement that if one left for the bathroom, the other two would stand guard. After three trips, and clearing out a handful of zombies each time, the infected stopped appearing in that area of the hallway. The survivors believed that there were no more creatures in the immediate area to attract at the time and left it at that.

The walls of the safe room were covered in notes left behind by other survivors. They ranged from notes to other survivors to morbid kill counts. It seemed they had been left during the time John and Henderson had been hiding.

The weapons and extra supplies were kept near the door, and all extra food was used to replace the food that they would eat while in the room.

After a dinner of assorted snacks and food found in the safe room, Henderson started the conversation. "So John, do you think your family is still in Hubbard?"

"So that's why we're going there." Sadie exclaimed, proud she figured it out.

"Yeah, that's why." John responded. He turned back to Henderson to answer his question. "Nah, I doubt it. If the Zombies got here this fast, I bet they already moved on to the smaller towns nearby."

Henderson nodded in agreement, "I see what you mean."

John slowly began to let his mind wander; he must have looked depressed to cause the worry of the other survivors.

Sadie leaned over and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry kid, I bet they got out in time."

"I know they're fine. Out of the whole town, we were the only ones prepared." John gave the older girl a determined look. "We live on the edge of town on a road heading towards Hillsboro. I was going to head here to pick up the money from my class refund and then we were gonna leave. We were going to head north to somewhere cold, using the freeway as little as we could, but I guess they probably left already."

Henderson decided to move the topic away from John's family. "Well, my wife took our kids to Washington about a week ago. Her parents live in the mountains so it seemed safe. We couldn't afford all of us to go at the time so I was going to follow them the next day, but that was when all this started. I managed to call them before things got too bad though. About eight that morning my family made it to Washington and were driving, a lot of people were heading to Canada, but she found a nice couple to ride with." He ended his story with a small smile, the man loved his family very much.

"You never did tell me what that call was about when I came to your room." John said slyly.

"Sorry, it wasn't at the front of my mind after the attack, sorry."

S'cool man, I don't blame ya."

Henderson turned to Sadie, who had been listening with little interest to his story. "What about you, what did you do when all this started?"

Sadie leaned against the wall as a serious look crossed her face. "I was in my apartment.

My roommate came in screaming bloody murder. I looked outside and some fucker was running straight to the door. Slammed it right in his face." A victorious grin crossed her face.

"She said he bit her and she began to freak out. She didn't calm down for hours, and by the time she did…well…" Sadie's grin disappeared. "She was cool, but she wasn't my friend anymore. Took a while and she got a chunk outta my arm, but I did it. I put two, the zombies outside, and two together and figured what was going on, nearly freaked out too. Waited for a while, left when it got quiet, stocked up, and found you guys."

John felt the need to say something, but nothing good came to mind so he stated the obvious. "Sorry 'bout your friend… but… I think she's much better off now."

Sadie looked mad for a second, but soon agreed with him. "Guess you're right, can't be helped." With that she left the group and retreated to her sleeping bag.

After a few minutes of silence Henderson went to bed. John couldn't sleep right away, though; the conversation had left his mind racing.

'_Did they get out in time? Where are they now? Are they safe?'_

He couldn't get the thoughts out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. So for the next hour John resigned to reading the notes on the walls.

Mark

I'm leaving this note hoping you'll pass by. I'm ok and I'm with others. We're heading west. There are reports of the infected leaving New Orleans. The military is going to set up a massive evacuation while the city is empty. I'll wait for you. 

Beth

John quickly turned from this message.

I killed 7

23!

82 just in Wal-Mart!

52,873 and counting FUCKERS!

BULL-SHIT!

It was good to see that someone was having fun… One message caught his attention.

Ignore the crying! They are infected too! Don't even shoot it just run away.

John felt a sense of déjà vu wash over him. Crying… why was that so familiar? These thoughts were soon forgotten as sleep finally overcame the tired boy.

Every few hours an infected would stumble across the room and scare them awake. Sadie personally… _disposes_ of each unlucky zombie, leaving John and Henderson fearful of the small girl's brutality.

(^(00)^)

The morning's breakfast was passed in silence while the rain outside kept the room peaceful.

"What's on the agenda for today _oh fearless leader_." Sadie looked to Henderson for a response.

The older man pulled himself off the floor and brushed the crumbs from his clothes. "I guess we keep heading to the east. We're about half way through the building so it won't take much longer."

John rose beside Henderson, trying to ignore the pain in his side. "From there, freedom. We find a car and leave town, stocking up where we can."

"I like that plan, easy, simple, and hard to fuck up!" Sadie rose from the floor and joined the other survivors by the door. The hallway was still mostly empty. During the night a few zombies had wandered in, but nothing too dangerous.

"Say bye to the room, because we ain't coming back." Henderson lifted the metal bat that kept the metal door wedged shut.

As they left John turned and looked back to the room, seeing the same strange message as last night,

Ignore the crying!

(^(00)^)

After eliminating the few zombies awaiting the survivors in the hallway, the group was met with a strange predicament.

The building was empty.

Sadie was the first to voice her concern. 'Where the hell do a few hundred zombies disappear to? It just doesn't make sense."

John agreed, before now there had always been at least a few undead creatures, but now… "I don't know, but let's not let this go to waste, ok?"

"Agreed, let's pick up the pace." Henderson jogged ahead of the group, prompting them to follow.

The main Hallway didn't last much longer; once all the offices where behind the survivors the hall ended in two large doors leading into another smaller room. This room was the entrance into the Dawson Auditorium, Navarro College's theater.

"See anything?" Henderson quietly called to John as he peered through the doors.

"Nope… still nothing." He pulled his head away and looked back to his fellow survivors. "Hey, ya' think someone came through last night and killed everything for us?" He started to chuckle until Sadie smacked the boy over his head.

"Yeah, keep thinking like that and we'll think you're going crazy." She said, rolling her eyes at him. "You know very well we're the reason for the lack of zombies!"

"Cut it out you two, we need to keep moving. Who knows when more creatures will take their place?" Henderson moved between the two younger survivors and opened the doors. Sadie gave him a mock salute and stuck her tongue out at his retreating figure.

With out ever turning around, "You better stick that tongue back in you're mouth young lady, or something's going to come and bite it off."

"Why you old…"

"**Whaaaaah!**" (1)

Henderson turned back to Sadie, "Um… I didn't think that would hurt your feelings so much… sorry?"

"Shut up! I ain't crying!" Sadie looked back to him. The look on her face made her seem almost insulted.

"**Whaa-ha-ha-haaaa…**"

"SHHH!" John silenced the other two survivors. It was not just crying; it was the most pitiful moaning the boy had ever heard. It was easily feminine and the weeping seemed to be coming from the auditorium.

"It's from in here… you think it's another survivor?" Sadie put her ear to the theater's door, trying to determine if the noise was friend of foe. She reached to the door, ready to save whoever was behind it.

"Wait! Just… hold on…" John grabbed Sadie's arm to prevent her from entering.

'_Ignore the weeping.'_

The message from the room still rang through his head. This could be what it was warning about, or he could be leaving an innocent survivor to die.

"What's your damage man? Someone could need our help." Sadie twisted her arm out of John's grasp and walked back to the door.

"No, he's right." This time Henderson stopped her. "We don't know who or what's in there."

Sadie was starting to get upset. "Are you saying we abandon them?"

"No! I'm saying we're going to be careful." This time he reached for the door. "Stay alert, don't let your guard down, and I'll do the talking." Henderson opened the door into the auditorium and was met with a horrifying sight.

The room was large, large enough to fit a small house and still have room. After about thirty rows of seats there was a stage.

On the stage was a small figure sitting alone, obviously the source of the crying. Around her was blood. It covered the stage, the walls, and the first few rows were covered in blood. There were no bodies, but piles of gore were strewn in with the blood smeared areas. The lights above the stage had somehow been destroyed, giving very little light to the room. The girl sat in the middle of the scene, still crying for unknown reasons.

As the survivors neared the girl they could make out her features. The girl sat on her legs as she cupped her own face and cried into her hands. She was pale, deathly so. She had long black hair which obscured her face from the group. Her clothes were in tatters, leaving somewhat of tank top and ragged shorts. The rain outside gave her crying a strange melody to it, finishing off the horrific setting.

The warning signs were going off in John's head, everything about that woman screamed danger. Why was she there? What made all this blood? The others didn't seem to feel the same as John did. Henderson slowly walked down the isle to the stage, trying to grab the crying woman's attention.

"Ma'am… are you ok?" He called out to her. "Miss… are you alone… are you hurt?" He stopped halfway; the woman was beginning to give him an uneasy feeling. "Ma'am… please answer me."

Henderson began to tighten his grip on his bat, an action that was not lost to Sadie. She ran up to the stage and called to the girl. John stayed behind still feeling uneasy with the crying woman. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to voice his concern.

"Hey… HEY! Listen to me…"

As Sadie passed Henderson and came to the bloody isles the woman's head suddenly snapped to attention. All crying stopped and the woman slowly began to rise. An inhuman growl came from the figure.

_**Grrrr….**_

John finally found his voice, "Sadie! Get away from her." He ran up the isle and pulled out his shotgun in just a few seconds.

"What the…." Sadie began to retreat from the woman.

_**GRRRR…GRRRR... GRRRR…**_

After putting more space between them, Sadie turned and raised her guns to the strange woman. The woman was nearly roaring at Sadie now. As she rose to her feet the survivors noticed more terrifying things about the girl.

Her skin was turning as red as the blood surrounding her. The eyes that had been hidden behind her dirty hair were red, nearly glowing in the dim light. Her hands were the worst part; the bones had grown straight through her fingers and bent into jagged claws.

_**RRRAAHHH…….RRRAAHHH………**_

Henderson realized the danger now too. "SADIE! COME BACK!"

The cries from before were now screams of rage. The woman…. no… the infected stood on the stage, still glaring at Sadie. Her arms were raised, almost challenging her to shoot.

So Sadie shot.

The bullet hit and the screaming stopped. Sadie had shot the infected right between her eyes, causing its head to whip back.

Sadie smirked, believing she had won. "Hah, serves you right bitch!"

_**KYYYYAAAAAAAA!!!!**_

Its head snapped back into place as it screamed louder than ever before. And with that one warning it charged. It leaped from the stage and ran at Sadie. Its arms were raised and it kept screaming.

"Oh Fuck!" Sadie abandoned any ideas of fighting back and ran from the banshee

As she came closer Henderson raised his bat. He looked to John, who understood his plan right away. As Sadie passed by, the two men split; Henderson jumped to the right and John to the left. Henderson reared the bat back, like a real batter, as the screaming zombie neared him. Its intent was to keep chasing Sadie, but when he struck the bat right across the infected's face. The force of the strike knocked the banshee back down the isle, eleven rows to be exact. Realizing her pursuer had been halted, Sadie stopped running.

The creature stopped its momentum and rolled back to its feet. Its attention switched from Sadie to Henderson now, and the chase began again. As Henderson took off through the rows of chairs, the Infected followed.

"Shoot it!" John yelled to Sadie, "It'll stop chasing him if we distract it." John ran up to the stage, trying to get an angle where he would not accidentally hit another survivor with the buckshot.

Sadie took aim and fired at the banshee. As the rounds found their mark, it abandoned its chase and once again focused on the female survivor. As John leapt to the stage and faced the fight.

Sadie fired three more shots and began to run gain. "What the fuck are you waiting for!?! For the love of god, SHOOT IT!" Sadie ran to the stage with the screaming zombie close behind. As the infected jumped onto the stage, John raised the barrel and shot the monster square in the face. The shot destroyed its face, and finally ended the screaming.

John dropped the gun finally tired despite being asleep not two hours ago. All the fighting, all the running, all the infected-- it finally caught up to him. "I can't take this anymore." He collapsed onto his knees and stared at the blood covered stage.

"Easy for you to say." Sadie walked over to the dead body, poking it with her foot to test its dead…ness. "_You _didn't have to run from this bitch." She kicked the corpse once she knew it couldn't fight back. "At least we know what happened to all the other undead bitches; she killed 'em!" She turned back to John to find him still knee deep in gore.

John looked back at her. "It's not just that… thing, it's all of this. Zombies aren't supposed to run. It's bad enough there jumping and tackling and-and-and… screaming!" He waved his hands at the body lying on the floor in front of him.

Henderson finally reached the other survivors to hear the end of John's cries. "He's right."

Sadie turned to the older man, dumbfounded. "What, now you're gonna get all depressed too?"

"No," He defended, "I mean that yes the infected are changing. We saw something like this a few days ago… it's evolution."

"Now you lost me." A confused expression crossed her face.

Henderson went into full lecture mode. "Think about it. After running out of non infected humans, the zombies are running out of food. What ever sickness caused the initial transformation must be helping them evolve so rapidly. Who knows what the will begin to do?"

Sadie rolled her eyes at him and pulled out Ebony and Ivory. "Don't matter to me, they die and I've got the guns to kill it." She shot the banshee's corpse in the head to prove her point.

"I agree, but we're going to have to be more careful, understand?" Henderson tried to reason with the excitable girl.

"Yeah, I guess." Sadie walked over to John and slapped the back of his head.

"Wha!?" John was awoken from his gloom by an angry redhead with her hand on her hips glaring at him.

"Oi, you listening? It don't matter how tough they get, we're still gonna kill any zombie that gets in our way. So suck it up, what happened to the determined kid from last night? Your family is out there worried about you and you're just gonna sit here and mope? Lame!"

Henderson nodded his head in agreement, "She's right, if you stay there covered in blood you'll never find out what happened to them."

John watched the other two survivors try to raise his spirits. From this angle Sadie almost looked like…

'_Just promise me you'll be safe, ok?'_

'_Adrienne Donaldson, I promise you I'll be back soon.'_

John looked her in the eyes, swearing he could see his own red head. "I promise…"

"What did you say?" Sadie was beginning to question the boy's sanity.

"Nothing, just that ya'll are right." He pulled himself from the floor. "There's no way I'm staying here."

Henderson smiled at John's newfound fire. "That's the spirit, let's get going before something bigger comes along. There's a back door that connects to the Liberal Arts building, that's our last stop before leaving." He made his way to a fire exit that led out through the back.

"Finally, the dead smell is starting to get to me." Sadie glared at the gore covered walls of the theater and followed Henderson to the back exit.

John looked at the survivors. Sadie, strong and courageous. Henderson, logical and tactical. There was no way he could survive this nightmare without them.

(^(00)^)

And… wait for it… DONE!!!

Alright, I wanted to write a witch fight for a while. The only thing was that I couldn't think of a good way to type out how they cry, so don't hate on the lameness please.

I was originally going to make this chapter all about the safe room, but it would have felt too short.

Next, I would like to thank Sanima and The Golden Echo, my two reviewers. It's there two that are keeping this story going.

In other me related news, DUDE ALMOST 200 HITS!

That's all I got, hope you enjoyed it.

Guardian Shotgun

(^(00)^)


	6. Sirens

Author's Notes: After my girlfriend, Adrienne, read the story she pointed out something important, Hubbard is WEST of Corsicana. A shamefully regret my horrible abilities to give directions but will keep the direction the same for the sake of story flow. 

That is all.

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Chapter 5: Sirens

"_So… who do ya'll think will kill us? Zombies, bugs, gators, or swamp people?"_

"_With the way we're shooting? I'd say each other."_

_Rochelle and Ellis, L4D 2_

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

Narration

**Sound effects**

_**INFECTED **_

_Important/Exaggeration_

WALL WRITING 

"It's leaning to the left."

"Nah, it's just slumped over."

"Hmm… I think you're right, but it's still moving too."

"What the hell do you know, you're half blind?"

"Bite me! I still say you can't make it."

"Twenty bucks says I get it between the eyes."

"But it's raining, there's no way you'll make it."

"He's got a point."

"Then what is he scared of?"

"Hmm… deal, but you have to hit the forehead."

"Will ya'll be quiet and just take the shot."

"I'm trying, but this fucker won't shut up!"

"She'll never make it. The thing has to be at least…"

**Bang**

**Thump**

In the distance a small thumpwas heard as a zombie collapsed from its position at the baseball fields.

"… a hundred yards… away." John's mouth fell open.

Sadie lowered Ebony and comically blew the smoke away from the barrel. "That was the easiest twenty bucks I've ever made." She tucked the gun in the back of her pants and held her hand out to John. "Pay up."

"Fat chance, I want to see the hole." After the rough night and shaky morning, the group's spirits had taken a turn for the better. The survivors currently stood outside the Dawson Auditorium fire exit. The theater was attached to the Liberal Arts building by a small archway between the buildings.

Henderson rose from his position of leaning on the archway. "That's the last one. You better pay up if she wins, ya know? She would probably shoot you too." After exiting the building, Henderson had an idea; clear out as many zombies in their path as they could from a safe distance. It would be safer, save on ammunition, and it would reduce the chance of attracting more infected creatures with their yelling. Naturally, the two younger survivors turned it into a game, 'who could kill the most?' For the past hour the two had passed the black handgun back and forth, killing forty seven zombies. The light rain had made the shooting a bit difficult, but Sadie won with a three kill lead.

The college's baseball fields were finally in view, with the edge of Navarro right beyond that. Beyond the colleges were a city park, then an open field, and finally a small church. After the church was the back road leading all the way to Dawson, and then Hubbard. The only thing standing between the survivors and the fields was the Art building and a large parking lot.

"How much ammo is left?" Sadie emptied the used clip into her bag and pulled out a fresh one.

Henderson rummaged through the bags that had been abandoned during the game. "Umm… we still have three two hundred and forty pistol rounds, with eight clips ready. This isn't counting what's already on you." During any down time she could find, Sadie refilled any clips she used with fresh ammo. The idea of manually reloading a clip in the middle of a fight seemed impossible to her, so she always remained prepared.

Henderson began to look through John's bag. "And… there's a hundred and six shells, not counting what's loaded or with you John." The youngest survivor felt safe with that amount. It only took one good shot to kill a zombie with a shotgun, but he _would_ need to find more ammunition eventually.

"Ya'll are lucky I found all that ammo. Without me ya'll would probable be dead by now." Although they didn't want to help her inflated ego, John ad Henderson knew she was right.

Henderson handed the backpacks to the other survivors. The food had been given to him, while the ammunition had been split between John and Sadie.

Sadie shouldered her bag and looked to Henderson. "Where we gonna go now?"

Henderson stood in thought for a few minutes. "Well… since we cleared out the area before us, and there may be more creatures in the Art building, I say we go around the building. The parking lot reaches around most of the building, so we'll take the side opposite the highway. From there we can cut straight to the baseball fields." He pointed straight to across the parking lot for emphasis. He waved his hand for the others to follow as he and John walked out into the rain.

Sadie looked to the cloudy sky; she had hoped to stay inside longer. "Uhg… I hate rain." She sighed in defeat and followed the boys out into the rain.

(^(00)^)

The two parking lots were separated by a small road running through the campus. Each was littered with cars. Some were still parked, they had probably been there before the first attack just a few days ago. A random few cars had been crashed into the ones that had already been parked, turning the parking lot into a maze of cars.

The first was remotely empty, a few infected had been hidden behind the random cars. The survivors decided against climbing over the cars for now, for fear of being seen by more infected.

Henderson took point knocking out any infected he could find. "We need to be careful, some of these cars may have alarms. We don't want to alert the ones at the road."

"Twenty three!" John called as he disposed of another hidden zombie.

Sadie responded in a sing-song voice, "We're not playing any more."

"Aww… Shit! I was making a come back too!"

"Cut it out you two," Henderson called back, bludgeoning a downed infected over the head. _'Twelve' _he thought to himself. The trip through the first lot, was passed in relative silence after that, except for the occasional gun shot or bat to the head.

As they prepared to cross the small road to the second parking area, they stopped to observe the infected still clogging the highway roughly eighty yards away. It seemed a few had left, possibly because of the crying infected that had killed most of the infected in the administrative building. There were still quite a few though, roughly two hundred give or take.

John looked to the giant crowd in fear. No matter how good the survivors were, there was no way they could take on that many creatures. "Think they'll notice us?" He looked to the others, but Sadie only shrugged her shoulders.

"No, they won't even know we're here if we keep quiet." Henderson looked across the lawns of the baseball fields to a small forested area that was the park. It was only a mile away from where they where, and about three quarters of a mile from the edge of the fields. "Let's not take our chances though, once we're free of the cars we will make a break for the park, but until then keep it down."

The younger survivors silently agreed with the teacher. One by one they sprinted across the street as quietly as they could. The next lot was the same as the first; half demolished cars strewn about made it hard to find their way out. A fire truck had even found its way into the maze.

John stopped and studied the big red truck for a few moments. "Henderson," he whispered, "you said we needed to be as quiet as possible, right?"

"Yeah why." Henderson was faced away from him, scanning the cars for more zombies.

John smiled a little bit, "'Cause if we get into a fight, my gun may be too loud."

"Yeah, but I don't think the creatures are drawn to gun fire that much. You're fine as you are." He didn't receive an answer.

Confused Henderson turned around to see John pulling a fire ax from the side of the fire truck. It had a sturdy looking wooded handle and the blade was bright red and sharpened to a point. The object looked deadly in his hand, and John swung it around a few times, finding it lighter than he expected.

"Can I have the holster back, I think this will do well for now." John motioned for the large sling still on Henderson's back that at one point housed his extra bat. Henderson tossed it to him, and John practiced switching between the ax and his shotgun a few times.

"This will work better now," Henderson said. "I'll take point, and John you take the end. Sadie will be in the middle taking care of any long range infected." John and Sadie agreed to the older man's plans and formed into a line.

(^(00)^)

The trip turned to silence once again. The group kept their distance from the cars, fearing any car alarms.

John took to the ax quickly, he could decapitate the zombies quite effectively. If any infected tried to charge him, John would bludgeon it with the wooden handle and knock it to the ground, making decapitation all the easier.

The second trip was nearly over in twenty minutes. The infected had already been dealt with, resulting in limited zombie interference. But as the survivors reached the end of their journey, things took a turn for the worst.

_**GRRRRRRR**_

"What the fuck?" Sadie turned around quickly trying to find the source of the growling. "Ya'll hear that too?"

John switched from the ax back to his shotgun. "Yeah, it's behind us." He looked to Henderson for a plan. "Do we fight it or run away, this thing doesn't sound like the others."

**GRRRRAARR **

The growling was getting closer.

Henderson looked to the edge of the parking lot only thirty feet away. "I say we get out of the cars. If it follows us, we kill it. If it doesn't follow, we ignore it." He moved faster now, weaving between the cars.

_**GGGRRRRAAAAAHHH!!!!**_

A dark shape flew through the air. It arched and descended towards Henderson.

"Look out!" Luckily, Sadie was close behind him. As the creature neared the older survivor she tackled him out of the way.

It soared over its target landed gracefully in front of them. The creature crawled around on all fours, looking for its meal. It paused as it found the two survivors behind it, and Sadie prepared to shoot. The shot went wide as the infected only stood still for a moment before leaping back into the sea of cars.

"It's like the one yesterday!" John finally caught up to the other survivors, "We need to keep moving or it'll attack again." He stood guard as the other survivors picked themselves up from the asphalt.

_**GGGRRRRAAAAAHHH!!!!**_

The infected leaped over the group, landing near the exit of the maze of cars.

"It's toying with us. It knows where we're trying to go." Henderson pulled himself off the ground. "We can't run."

"Fuck running then," Sadie pulled out both her guns. "We'll fight it then. It's just one him against three of us."

"Circle up and try to watch for its attack." Henderson positioned himself on John's right.

"Now you're talking." Sadie Went to Henderson's right and John's left. She scanned the area before her, _'I want payback.'_

"There!" John heard the infected crawling to the left. He swung his gun around towards the noise and waited for the monster to show its head.

_**GGGRRRRRRRR**_

"Don't hit the car." Henderson still stood in his position, gripping his bat tightly. If the creature missed again he would be ready.

_**GGRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!**_

The creature was airborne again, this time it was leaping towards John. He followed its arc to where he thought it would land.

"Gotcha!" He cried as he fired into its chest, but it never stopped its attack. The creature landed on him, pinned John to the ground, and began its attack in only a few seconds. The assault sent John's weapon skidding across the asphalt towards the other survivors. "AGH! FUCK! HELP!" John threw his arm up, trying to knock it off of his chest.

Henderson was quick to turn around and help the downed survivor. He brought his bat across the creature's side and sent it rolling past a few cars. The infected stopped its path by flipping onto its feet.

As the zombie regained its balance, Sadie charged, firing both pistols. Her barrage kept the infected from fighting back as the force of the shots started to push it back. With a final kick, Sadie killed the creature as its body collapsed against the hood of a random car…

**HONK! HONK! HONK! **

…and set off the car's alarm. The sound pierced the once silent air with its deafening sounds.

Sadie stood there for a moment fear plastered on her face. "Ohhhhh shit! OHHHHH SHIT!" She retreat backward slowly from the wailing car.

Henderson grabbed her arm and nearly dragged her away. "We need to go NOW!"

He let go of the girl and began to run to the exit. The two of them helped John as he pulled himself up and retrieved his gun. His arms were bleeding heavily, but he didn't need them to run.

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

The distant screams of hundreds of zombies alerted to their position pushed the survivors to flee. The three leapt over the cars, all thoughts of sneaking had flown out the window. It only took the group twenty seconds to escape the parking lot and arrive at the Baseball fields.

"Jump the fence!" Henderson ran ahead and leapt over the chest high fence surrounding the playing field, John and Sadie were close behind. They fled across the field with Henderson leading, Sadie behind him, and John not far behind. As they ran, the group passed a corpse with a large hole in its forehead.

"HA! You owe me!" Sadie cheered as they ran.

John nearly stopped running in amazement, at both the girl's marksmanship and strangeness. "Not now!" He yelled ahead to her.

The Survivors cleared both baseball fields before looking back. The hoard of infected had just arrived parking lot they had fled from. For a moment the trio believed that they were safe.

Henderson slowed his running to a jog and the others followed suit. The car's blaring sirens could still be heard from this distance.

"What are they doing?" John turned around to watch the crowd of infected.

"I don't know, but we need to keep moving." Henderson tried to get the boy to move, but John stood still. Suddenly the car's alarm cut off.

"What happened?" It was Sadie's turn now to watch the hoard.

Henderson paused a moment before replying. "They… I think they destroyed the car."

"Damn… what will they do now that…?"

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

The giant crowd now began to approach their direction.

Sadie ended her initial question with a quiet, "Fuck."

"YOU JUST HAD TO FUCKING ASK DIDN'T YOU!?!" John screamed as the survivors resumed their fleeing.

^(00)^)

END CAPTER

I'm sorry that this chapter was shorter than the others but I ran out of ideas for this. All of this was what I originally wanted in the last chapter, but I felt the witch was a good stopping point

I do know where the next chapter will go, but I can't type another two thousand words all saying "they ran like hell!"

I also know that a pig point in this chapter was inspired by Left 4 Dead one, it was my favorite part.

But on the other hand, this chapter marks my twenty thousand word mark so go me!

Lastly I will thank my reviewers: The Golden Echo, Sanima, Biteme4eturn-t, and Rem Ri. Thank you all, you alone are keeping this story going.

Tiredly, Guardian Shotgun

(^(00)^)


	7. Author's Note! READ THIS! NOW!

AUTHOR'S NOTE!!

From the desk of John Baker!

Good news people, sorry but this is not another chapter but it's just as important! I've got a beta reader and partner in crime! Say hello to… (insert drum roll here)… Adrienne Donaldson. She will be helping with the grammar-ness of my story! Please show her with the same amount of respect you show me… absolutely nothing!

With that aside you can expect the next chapter within the week.

Tootles!

(^(00)^) John Baker and Adrienne Donaldson.

**(Beta note: you better show me some respect!) **


	8. And That Makes Four

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Chapter 6: And that makes four.

'_Four is rarely the magic number; four blind mice would have been an infestation, a fourth pig who built his house out of depleted uranium would have been ridiculous, and after getting four [X Box] controllers you come to the conclusion that you have too much disposable income.'_

_Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw/ __Zero Punctuation._

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

Narration

**Sound effects**

_**INFECTED **_

_Important/Exaggeration_

WALL WRITING 

Henderson paused a moment before replying. "They… I think they destroyed the car."

"Damn… what will they do now that…?"

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

The giant crowd now began to approach their direction.

Sadie ended her initial question with a quiet, "Fuck."

"YOU JUST HAD TO FUCKING ASK DIDN'T YOU!?!" John screamed as the survivors resumed their fleeing.

(^(00)^)

It was quiet in the church, except for the light rain outside, but he liked it that way. The silence helped him think. James Hooper sat in one of the few pews not used as barricades.

It had been days since the infected attacked Corsicana. Was it a week ago? James turned his head to the wall on his left and studied the seven lines that he had carved in them. He tried his best to look past everything else the wall had to offer. He had seen them so many times, but they were still hard to read.

Crude obituaries lined nearly every other square foot of the church's wall. The names of those he once knew were screaming at him: _'YOU LET ME DIE!'_

How, how was it even possible? In just a few days, how could so many people die? He could still remember it all, no matter how hard he tried to forget.

The first day was hell. The screams began on the west end of town that morning, and quickly spread to the east. The police tried to contain them, but it was too late. By mid–afternoon half of Corsicana's population was either infected or dead. Those trying to escape caused a wreck on the main road, effectively destroying the best escape. James, his wife, and their two children sought shelter in the church where he had preached.

And they waited for help.

On the second day the military arrived. They came dressed in black and carrying large guns, but they were just as afraid as the civilians they were protecting. The troops made base at the church, setting up medical equipment and giving a gun to anybody who could shoot properly. James had been on the roof for hours at a time with five other people with an oversized rifle at their side. 'Guard duty' they called it, and they got to the roof by means of a folding ladder near the Church's main entrance. James tried to convince them to let him use his own gun downstairs, but they wouldn't listen. His wife kept him calm; she stayed positive throughout the entire ordeal.

Days three and four were filled with search and rescue missions. As the survivor count rose, the troops' numbers dwindled, until there were only a few left. The infected started to attack in numbers now, but somehow they were held off. James was put on permanent guard duty, but at least his hunting rifle was back at his side. The gas generator supplied what little electricity they used. James' wife and kids helped in any way they could, but things were slowly getting out of control.

James made friends with a younger survivor on guard duty. His name was Rance Bowers, and his girlfriend, Kayla Ellis was downstairs in the church. He talked about her constantly, not that James took mind; the nineteen year old boy was a good companion. He cracked jokes about what he would do after the infection passed, like it was some sort of war. On the fourth night he pulled out a small black box and said, "When this is over, I'm gonna marry her." In the box was a small silver ring with a little diamond.

Day five…

…a large number of infected, possibly three or four hundred, attacked. James and the other five on guard duty took down most of them. Explosive barrels that housed… something, he never did find out, were used like land mines to take out large numbers of infected at a time. Those six men alone took down three quarters of the hoard, but the troops downstairs were not as prepared.

The infected stormed the church, killing everyone. The monsters' numbers quickly fell, but the same was said about the survivors. James and the other guards tried to help, but by the time they descended from the roof it was too late. Twenty three survivors and twelve military troops lay slaughtered at the feet of a handful of infected.

Two more men died, one ran, and three finished off the last of the infected. Rance collapsed to his knees searched through the remains of the survivors. After a few minutes he found Kayla, her right leg was gone but she was still alive. She vomited blood and bile down the front of his shirt, signifying her infection. Rance pulled out the little black box and showed her the ring.

"Will you?" he asked in a small voice.

She smiled at him through her tears and held out her hand, "Yes…"

As he placed the ring on her finger, Rance retrieved a revolver from the hands of a deceased survivor. He checked the rounds and found two bullets, just enough. As he kissed her one last time and then brought the gun to her forehead. She closed her eyes and nodded her head, letting him know she was ready. Rance held her hand as he cried.

He fired.

As her limp body collapsed to the floor he raised the gun to himself now. He put the barrel in his mouth this time and fired again.

James never knew the other man that survived. Without word, the man helped James dispose of the bodies. After praying for the dead, the man turned and left, leaving James alone to write the obituaries on the walls. James never searched for his family, he didn't know what he would do if he found them.

The sixth day was passed in silence. James replaced the used barrels for new ones, the barricades were rebuilt, and he gathered what ammo and guns he could and organized them incase he had to leave quickly.

The rest of the day he cleaned his new revolver.

This morning… he did nothing. There were no infected that were dangerously near the church, leaving him with nothing to worry about.

_**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

'_What the hell!?!'_

Even through the church's walls, James could hear the cries of a horde of infected. It sounded close, maybe near the college. He grabbed hunting rifle and ran outside into the light shower of rain. As he ascended the ladder, James could see a dark grey mass nearly half a mile away. The horde was closing in on the perimeter quickly. They were sprinting across the park that separated the church and the college nearly a mile away.

He saw three small figures ahead of the horde by about a hundred yards. As James observed the figures through the scope of this rifle, only one thought came to mind…

'…_not good…'_

(^(00)^)

His lungs were on fire…

…his feet were heavy…

…his muscles ached…

…every fiber of his being screamed for him to stop…

…but he kept running.

The horde of undead chasing him was all that kept him from collapsing. After half a mile of running, the undead hoard behind them was beginning to gain ground. There was no way the three survivors could stand against the creatures' sheer numbers, so they kept running.

"DON'T STOP!" Henderson screamed ahead of him. The older man was on his last leg too and if they didn't find safety soon, there was no way they would survive.

Sadie was behind Henderson but still in front of John. "Like I didn't FUCKING KNOW THAT!" The feisty survivor began to run faster, if only just to hit the older survivor.

The trio passed a small playground in the middle of the city park. The church was in the distance, bordering the edge of the park. As the survivors passed the last of the recreational equipment, they were met with a strange sight. Barrels littered the field between them and the Church. Every twenty or so feet there was a bright red barrel. The survivors did not know or care what was in them. The gap between themselves and the infected was rapidly shrinking.

"To the church!" Henderson yelled to the younger two survivors, "Maybe it will be a safe room!"

"Hah!" Sadie scoffed at his plan as she turned and fired at a few infected while running backwards, "with your luck? I bet there's another hundred waiting for us!"

As they passed the first barrel, John called to the older girl. "Like you've got a better plan?"

"…Shut I-"

**Ka-BOOM**

As Sadie was about to retort, a barrel that they had recently passed spontaneously exploded.

"OH SHIT!" startled by the explosion, John nearly leapt into the air.

The resulting explosion obliterated the infected at the front of the pack that had been closing in.

"KEEP RUNNING!" Henderson called.

"IF YOU SAY SOMETHING SO FUCKING OBVIOUS ONE… MORE… TIME…"

**KA-BOOM!**

Sadie was once again cut off by a deafening explosion. It seemed to be raining bits of what were previously zombie parts. From this distance, Henderson could now see a figure atop the church. He waved to the man, hoping to get a response.

(^(00)^)

The man in front of the boy and the girl waved to him. James was surprised that he could see him. He waved back to the man to relieve his worries. The man turned his head back to the other survivors, obviously telling him about their savior. James focused his attention back to the horde of infected chasing the three survivors.

As the creatures passed another explosive barred, James fired at it through the crowd.

**Ka-BOOM!**

He could hear the distant explosion as at least thirty infected were incinerated by the flames. James had reduced their numbers by half now, but they were beginning to get too close to the Church. If he didn't hurry up, James and the survivors would have a quite a fight on their hands.

He fired at three more barrels that were nestled within the hoard's numbers, taking out around another thirty. The survivors, now having more distance from their pursuers, would occasionally fire back at the few infected that survived the explosions. James was amazed how they worked together, but he kept his focus on protecting them from his position.

The horde began to descend upon the survivors once again, so James tracked their path to a barrel that the trio had just passed. He waited for a few moments and fired as the first infected crossed his view.

**Ka-BOOM**

James looked away from the explosion to see the other infected running through the lingering flames, causing them too to catch fire. He looked away from the burning infected and back to the survivors…

.. and his stomach fell.

The one that had been lingering behind was on the ground.

(^(00)^)

John couldn't understand what happened.

One moment he was running, the next he was being hurled through the air. His skin was hot and his ears were ringing. The boy's vision was swimming between darkness and odd colors that had once been the world around him. John felt wet mud covering his face while the rain overhead helped cool his blistered skin.

'_I can't catch a break…'_

Suddenly he felt something grab his arm. The image of the barricaded classroom along the rotten arm and face tearing at his arm appeared in his mind. John tried to twist out of the arm's grasp, but he was unsuccessful.

"…John….op… alm d… elp…"

A distant voice tried was calling out to him, but John's ears were still ringing. He felt himself being lifted up and carried over someone's shoulder. He continued to squirm, not ever realizing that carrying their meal was not something that a zombie would do.

Eventually, John's senses finally returned and the ringing in his ears stopped long enough for him to understand what was happening. The youngest survivor was being carried on Henderson's shoulders while a few dozen flaming zombies were chasing them.

"I'm Fin-"

**Ka-BOOM**

He tried to call out to the older man, but John was cut off by yet another explosion as the heat irritated his skin. He was grateful for the gunner helping then, but did he have to cut it so close? He looked over his shoulder to Sadie, who was jogging backwards while disposing of any zombies that survived their incineration.

The church was now close enough for the survivors to notice the bright red metal doors adorning the front of the building. The loud howling from before was now a disembodied growl as the last few infected creatures were killed. Henderson slowed to a more relaxed pace as he and approached the safe haven.

"Umm… thanks, but you can put me down now man." John was finally able to get his message across to Henderson. The older man lowered himself so John could climb off.

"Are you going to be ok?" Henderson looked him over for any signs of injuries.

"Yeah, I just got a bit… fucked up back there." The world finally stopped spinning once John finally set his feet on the ground.

"Hello there." A man, probably even older than Henderson, descended from the roof via ladder. He was a tall man, he had to be at least five-eleven, and he was dressed in casual clothes. His hair was a fading brown that was beginning to show signs of balding. In his hands was what looked like a hunting rifle with a sniper's scope attached to the top, and a revolver was tucked into the side of his pants. "My name is James Hooper, pleased to meet you." He showed no signs of actually being pleased to see the survivors, but his tone suggested he wanted their names.

Henderson stepped forward, reaching his hand out to James. "My name is Stacy Henderson," when he realized James was not going to shake his hand, Henderson made a gesture to the younger survivors. "This is John Baker and Sadie Graham." The man continued to stare at them.

"May we come in?" John was the one to speak now. The older man obviously owned the church now, so it seemed the right thing to ask.

James made a short annoyed grunting, but turned to open the safe doors. He gestured his hand toward the open doors, "Come in."

(^(00)^)

And I am done!

Say hello to the last survivor, James Hooper. The man was my church's pastor for many years in real life, but the attitudes are totally different. It's a thing I do; I lay awake at night and imagine what the zombie apocalypse would do to certain people!

That's completely normal… right?

Another thing…if you didn't know… I GOTS A BETA PERSONS!

This chapter and the last were originally going to be told together, but at the time I felt that I was rushing the survivors into another safe zone, so I made them into two separate chapters.

Lastly I will thank my reviewers: The Golden Echo, Sanima, Biteme4eturn-t, Happy Forever, Cyber Trauma 1123, and Rem Ri. Thank you all, you alone are keeping this story going.

(^(00)^) Typed John Baker (Guardian Shotgun)

=) Beta-asized by Adrienne Donaldson.


	9. Woo! The story gets longer!

LEFT 4 DEAD: HOMEGROWN

Chapter 7: Woo! The story gets longer!

_Church Lunatic__: NO! No one gets in unless I am sure they're Immune!  
__Bill__: Son, we're immune, we're tired, and there's infected in the damn woods. Now cut out the shit and let us in!  
__Church Lunatic__: Only when I know you are human. Get ready for the test. DING DONG. DING DONG! Dinner is served! COME AND GET IT!_

_Bill & Stupid Church Guy from 'Death Toll'/Left 4 Dead (1)_

"Speech"

'_Thoughts'_

Narration

**Sound effects**

_**INFECTED **_

_Important/Exaggeration_

WALL WRITING 

Henderson stepped forward, reaching his hand out to James. "My name is Stacy Henderson," when he realized James was not going to shake his hand, Henderson made a gesture to the younger survivors. "This is John Baker and Sadie Graham." The man continued to stare at them.

"May we come in?" John was the one to speak now. The older man obviously owned the church now, so it seemed the right thing to ask.

James made a short annoyed grunting, but turned to open the safe doors. He gestured his hand toward the open doors, "Come in."

(^(00)^)

The church itself was not very special… at first glance. It was a small, one story, rectangular building made from brick. The roof was slanted on either side and the front end was adorned with a tall white steeple.

Inside the building was a different story. The church was dimly lit, giving a slight orange glow to everything inside its walls. The many of the benches and pews that used to be evenly spaced before the pulpit, were now stacked against windows and doors. The few remaining benches were turned into makeshift beds. The previously clean floors were stained in many areas with some unknown liquid. Like the last safe room that the survivors had passed through, the walls were littered with notes from other survivors, but the trio paid them no notice for now.

John, Henderson, and Sadie walked into the building as James closed the door behind them, wedging a lead pipe to ensure it would not open from the outside. When he finished, James began to give his tour.

"The beds are over there.," He pointed to the unused pews, "they may not be comfortable but they're much better than the floor. All the food and water is kept by the pulpit." He waved his hands lazily to the back of the building were a small part of the floor was raised higher than the rest.

The Survivors followed James to a corner half hidden by a barricade. Behind it was a small gasoline powered generator. "The generator feeds the lights at night, but I'm starting to run low on gas."

John was confused. "If you're low on gas, what about what's in the barrels outside? Can't you use that?"

James shook his head at the boy. "Son, that may be gas, but those weren't out there by accident. If I had to choose between lights or safety, I'd choose safety."

The way the man had responded had left a bad taste in John's mouth. He may have been wrong, but the older man didn't have to be so blunt.

"I guess you can stay until further notice." James turned away from the trio and proceeded to the beds.

(^(00)^)

JESSICA CHAPMAN

January 12 1888- July 1 2010

GOOD FRIEND

BETTER OFF NOW

Sadie put down the marker.

The walls of the church had been lined with obituaries to those lost in the outbreak. It felt right to add her. Maybe her family would pass by… maybe not. Jessica deserved more, but nothing better came to mind.

'_Sorry 'bout your friend… but… I think she's much better off now'_

The kid was right… Jessica was doing much better now. Sadie tore her mind away from the message and began her task of finding and distributing food between the three survivors. No one knew what James would do, so for now the survivors prepared themselves for the next day.

The survivors decided to spend the night in James' church for the night. The man seemed reluctant to let them stay, but he did not push the subject any further. James, John, and Henderson were sitting amongst the benches. John was sifting through the pile of ammunition for anything he or Sadie could use.

Henderson had John's shotgun and was taping a flashlight safely to the end of the barrel. If something happened and the survivors had to fight in the dark, he wanted them to be prepared.

James sat across from the other two, cleaning his hunting rifle inside and out. When he asked Henderson if they were maintaining their guns, he was disappointed to find that the responsible man had neglected to clean any of the firearms.

As the rain finally passed and an awkward silence descended on the survivors, John attempted to start a conversation.

"So… how long have you been here?" The youngest survivor looked to James for a response.

The older man was silent a few moments before he decided to respond. "I've been here since the first day. I was lucky enough to be on this side of town where the infected attacked."

"Oh." John had been surprised that the quiet man had even responded. He decided to press his luck. "How did you fight off the zombies for so long?" He immediately regretted his question once James tore his gaze from the gun. He looked to the younger boy as if John had said the most unintelligent thing in the world.

"Umm… zombies?" James tried to understand what John was asking. Sadie and Henderson stopped their tasks to listen to the conversation.

"You know… zombies." It was John's turn now for strange gazes. "Living dead? There're the thousands of bastards littering the city, and their very reason for living… or whatever… is to eat and infect us? What have you been hiding from?"

A look of realization flashed across James' face. "What have you been doing this past week son?"

Henderson found this a good time to join in the conversation. John and I were held up in a classroom for the first five days. We escaped through the vents and ran into Sadie on the sixth day. We found a safe room on campus and spent the night there. Today we found you." The ex-teacher recalled the nightmarish week as best he could to the older man.

James thought to himself for a moment. "So ya'll never did have any contact with the outside while you were hiding?"

Henderson shook his head.

James turned to Sadie. "You?"

"Nope." Sadie walked over to the other survivors and took a seat. "I hid for the first few days. I traveled around for two days after that. Most of the TVs I saw were busted and I never heard shit on the radio."

"Hmm, I see." James rose from his seat and paced nearby for a few minutes. Not able to think of an easy way to say it, he went with the ugly truth. "Those aren't zombies."

"HUH?!" Sadie nearly screamed in confusion.

John tried to make sense of the oldest man's words. "What are you talking about? If those aren't zombies… what the FUCK are they?"

"They're infected." James stated bluntly.

"But we know that." Henderson finally found his voice.

"No… I mean it's a disease that is making people into those monsters. They announced it a few days ago before the television signals were lost." James sighed in annoyance, the survivors didn't understand him. He sat down again and explained it to them. "The disease is a strange form of rabies. The sickness is passed through body fluids and infects the host very quickly, depending on how much of the infected fluids get in their system. The infected's skin excretes sweat and other things constantly to help it spread. Just one scratch, or even touching an open wound can infect someone."

Henderson realized what was happening now. "That's how it spread so fast, any attack could cause infection. Too many people are not immune to the sickness so nearly everyone who ran from New Orleans that day…"

"…Was a ticking time bomb." James finished the man's thoughts.

"Whoa, hold up." Sadie jumped into the conversation. 'You're telling me that all those sons a' bitches we've been killing… are just sick people?!"

James shook his head, he wished it were that simple. "You shouldn't think about it like that, it will get you killed. A lot of people though that it was _just a sickness_ tried to help their already infected families, only to get killed. There is _no_ going back once you're infected. The disease kills most major organs, leaving only the lungs, brain, and heart for a few moments. The heart stays active for a few days, but it eventually gives out due to the stress. The disease puts its victims in some sort of adrenalized rage and as a result, they attack all uninfected. The poor souls are un-curable, the only thing to do is to put them out of their misery."

John realized that James was right, but up until now he had believed he as killing a bunch of soulless corpses. The idea that all those people… "Why? What in God's name caused all of this?"

James looked to the younger boy. "This is man's doing, not God's. This is what happens when man tries to cheat death, to play God. Governments and corporations sought the ultimate cure for everything, but ended up causing the worse epidemic of all time."

Henderson sat in thought for a few moments, then asked a question. "Did they say anything else about the infected?"

James nodded in reply. "Yes, the ones on the television believe that the infected may decay away… in a few years."

The survivors' moods were slightly elevated at this thought. They had originally thought the infected creatures would be around forever, but if they could decay, all they would have to do was out last them.

"What about body heat? Since they have no blood flow, shouldn't the infected be cold or something." John looked to James for confirmation.

The older man nodded his head again. "That's true, but what good does it do? We're in Texas it barely gets below thirty here."

"It's all part of our plan." Sadie decided to explain to James. "We're gonna try to find an evac sight and get to Alaska. If we can survive there longer than the infected, we win." She smiled at Henderson, glad that she had taken his job of being the smart one.

James thought for a moment before responding. "How are you going to find an evacuation without a radio? Forget that, how do you even know where to go now?"

"We're going to Hubbard. There're supplies there and John's family was planning their escape from that town. We need to see where they went, if they left, or at least what happened to them. We owe it to him, Alaska was his idea." Henderson smiled to the youngest survivor.

"That's actually not a bad idea, son." James commented on the boy's plan. "The only problem is finding transportation. Ya'll do realize you're betting a little too much on luck, right?"

Sadie rolled her eyes at the older man. "It doesn't matter. If we stay here, we're dead. If we fight, we're dead. So running's the only option left."

"She's right, you know." Henderson turned his attention solely on James now. "You won't outlast the infected from in here. They'll pick this city clean and move on to the next one, just like New Orleans. Eventually you'll run out of bullets, food, or even sanity."

"So…you're inviting me to come along now?" James thought about the offer, but he knew Henderson was right. The infected would be the end of him, in time. The survivors' plan seemed the only way to survive. Even so, James did not like their chances. Leaving the church could lead to an even sooner death. "You seem able to take care of yourselves well enough, so why would you need me? I'm getting old and would probably slow you down."

"Hah, that's a flat out lie, old man." John scoffed at James' attempt to avoid them. "You just saved our asses just a few hours ago. Besides, there are some things out there that are worse than the infected."

"What do you mean by that, boy?" James was intrigued by the youngest survivor's words, what could possibly be worst than a world full of infected creatures?

"They're changing, haven't you seen?" Sadie commented. "We've fought some of the zombie… infected… whatever's mutated cousins!"

James stared at the trio quizzically. "I don't understand what ya'll are talking about" For the last few days all I have seen where the humans infected by the virus, nothing else!"

"They're telling the truth." Henderson stated. "We've fought a four mutated infected during our travel. Two of them could jump unbelievably long distances. Another had its body enlarged and had super strength. The last was like a berserker; it would cry loudly but once we got near it the thing went ballistic."

Sadie added in her thoughts. "We only survived those fuckers because we saved each other. If you try to fight one of those on your own… man you're shit out of luck."

"She's right." John added. "We need as much help as we can get to survive, and you won't last long on your own, so why don't you come with us?"

James argued the choices once again, but the appearance of the new infected ruled out any thoughts of surviving on his own. "Fine, I'll come along. I'll probably die, but it will be better than waiting to die in here."

Henderson smiled to the older man, glad to have a new partner. "Well, we better rest up, tomorrow we go car shopping." He pulled himself off of the pew and set out to make his beddings for the night.

"Then," John concluded, "Its home sweet home." The boy spun his body around into a laying position on the bench and began to fall asleep.

Sadie scoffed at the younger boy's enthusiasm. "Don't get too comfortable, we won't be staying long." She arose from the pew and found her own bench to sleep on for the night.

James could not decide if his choice was the right one, but he felt a bit better knowing he would be doing something the next day. The oldest, yet newest, survivor finished cleaning his rifle and retired for the night.

(^(00)^)

HUZZAH! I AM DONE!

Tank you all for waiting, and I'm very sorry for the late review. But now spring break is upon us and I will have a week to myself, so expect maybe two chapters this week.

On to busyness: I introduce to you the fourth and final survivor! Yes I know his joining was obvious, but I still wanted to make the old man stubborn.

Lastly I would like to, yet again, thank my reviewers: The Golden Echo, Sanima, Biteme4eturn-t, Happy Forever, Cyber Trauma 1123, and Rem Ri. Thank you all, you alone are keeping this story going.

Please stay tuned for the next chapter of Left 4 Dead Homegrown.

(^(00)^) Typed John Baker (Guardian Shotgun)

=) Beta-asized by Adrienne Donaldson.


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